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RELIGIOUS  DEVELOP- 
MENT BETWEEN  THE 
OLD  AND  THE  NEW 
TESTAMENTS 


BY 
R.  H.  CHARLES 

M.A.,  D.Litt.,  D.D.,  F.B.A. 

CANON   Or  WESTMINSTER 


NEW    YORK 
HENRY   HOLT  AND    COMPANY 

LONDON 
WILLIAMS  AND    NORGATE 


•  •     • 
*••    • 

•      •  • 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  PAGE 

INTRODUCTION 7 

I      PROPHECY   AND   APOCALYPTIC    .  .  .12 

II      THE     KINGDOM     OP    GOD     IN    APOCALYPTIC 

LITERATURE 47 

III  THE  MESSIAH  IN  PROPHECY  AND  APOCA- 
LYPTIC   .64 

IV  THE  RISE  AND  DEVELOPMENT  IN  ISRAEL 
OP  THE  DOCTRINE  OP  A  BLESSED  FUTURE 
LIFE    .  .  .  .  .  .  .96 

V      MAN'S    FORGIVENESS    OF    HIS   NEIGHBOUR — 

A    STUDY    IN    RELIGIOUS    DEVELOPMENT  .       133 

VI      REINTERPRET ATION   AND   COMPREHENSION  .       159 

VII      THE     LITERATURE — THE     OLD     TESTAMENT 

APOCRYPHA 184 

VIII      THE        PSEUDEPIGRAPHA       OF       THE        OLD 

TESTAMENT 220 

INDEX    OF   SUBJECTS  ....       253 


396891 


RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

BETWEEN  THE  OLD  AND 

THE  NEW  TESTAMENTS 

INTRODUCTION1 

From  the  times  of  the  primitive  Church 
down  to  the  last  century  it  was  the  generally 
accepted  view,  except  in  the  case  of  a  few 
isolated  scholars,  that  the  Old  Testament  was 
closed  in  the  fifth  century  B.C.,  and  that  in 
the  interval  between  the  fifth  century  and  the 
New  Testament  no  divine  voice  had  broken 
the  silence,  no  divine  message  been  sent  to  the 
faithful  remnant  of  Israel,  and  no  develop- 
ment had  been  achieved  by  the  righteous 
seekers  after  God  in  Palestine.  All  these 
positions  have  now  been  abandoned  by 
scholars  and  by  the  vast  body  of  educated 
people.     So  far  from  the  Old  Testament  being 

1  In  the  chapters  that  follow  I  have,  with  a  view  to 
clearness,  not  hesitated  to  restate  facts  and  inferences 
that  had  already  been  dealt  with  at  fuller  length  else- 
where in  this  little  book. 

7 


8  RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

closed  in  the  fifth  century,  it  is  now  acknow- 
ledged, even  by  the  most  conservative  Old 
Testament  critics,  that  portions  of  it,  such  as 
Daniel  and  the  Maccabean  Psalms,  belong  to 
the  second  century  B.C.;  while  progressive 
scholars  are  more  and  more  recognising  that 
late  elements  are  to  be  found  in  the  Old 
Testament  in  a  far  larger  degree  than  had 
hitherto  been  surmised.  Old  Testament  critic- 
ism has,  therefore,  narrowed  down  the  so- 
called  "  period  of  silence  "  to  something  under 
two  centuries.  But  recent  research  has  shown 
that  no  such  period  of  silence  ever  existed. 
In  fact,  we  are  now  in  a  position  to  prove  that 
these  two  centuries  were  in  many  respects 
centuries  of  greater  spiritual  progress  than 
any  two  that  had  preceded  them  in  Israel. 
The  materials  for  such  a  proof  are  to  be  found 
in  a  minor  degree  in  the  Apocrypha  (see 
chap,  vii.),  but  mainly  in  the  Pseudepigrapha 
(see  chap,  viii.) — that  not  inconsiderable  body 
of  literature  which  was  written  between 
180  B.C.  and  a.d.  100  and  issued  pseudony- 
mously,  i.  e.  under  assumed  names,  which  are 
always  the  names  of  various  ancient  worthies  in 
Israel  anterior  to  the  time  of  Ezra.1 

Owing  to  the  efforts  of  Ezra  and  his  spiritual 

1  There  are,  of  course,  pseudepipraphic  works  in  the  Old 
Testament,  such  as  Ecclcsiastcs  and  Daniel. 


INTRODUCTION  9 

successors  the  Law  came  to  be  regarded  as 
the  complete  and  last  word  of  God  to  men. 
When  this  view  of  the  Law  became  dominant 
it  is  obvious  that  no  man,  however  keenly 
he  felt  himself  to  be  the  bearer  of  a  divine 
message  to  his  countrymen,  could  expect  a 
hearing. 

Hence  with  a  view  to  gain  a  hearing  such 
men  published  a  series  of  books — only  a  por- 
tion of  which  has  been  preserved — under  the 
names  of  Ezra,  Baruch,  Jeremiah,  Isaiah, 
Moses,  Enoch,  etc. 

This  literature  was  written  probably  for  the 
most  part  in  Galilee,  the  home  of  the  religious 
seer  and  mystic.  Not  only  was  the  develop- 
ment of  a  religious  but  also  of  an  ethical 
character.  In  both  these  respects  the  way 
was  prepared  by  this  literature  for  the  advent 
of  Christianity,  while  a  study  of  the  New 
Testament  makes  it  clear  that  its  writers  had 
been  brought  up  in  the  atmosphere  created  by 
these  books  and  were  themselves  directly 
acquainted  with  many  of  them. 

Owing  to  these  religious  thinkers  and 
visionaries  (which  include  the  writers  of 
Daniel,  Is.  xxiv.-xxvii.,  etc.)  the  hopeless 
outlook  of  the  faithful  individual  in  the  Old 
Testament  was  transformed  into  one  of  joy. 
The  expectation  of  the  Old  Testament  saint 


10       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

was  an  everlasting  existence  in  the  unblessed 
abode  of  Sheol  or  Hades.  This  expectation 
was  transformed  by  this  school  of  writers  into 
the  hope  of  a  blessed  immortality. 

And  what  holds  true  here  holds  true  of  the 
entire  world  of  the  Old  Testament  conceptions. 
They  all  underwent  modification  and  develop- 
ment, but  not  in  the  same  measure;  the 
religious  ideas  of  this  period  were  in  a  state  of 
constant  flux,  in  which,  though  the  movement 
was  on  the  whole  progressive  and  spiritual, 
the  less  worthy  elements  were  almost  as  fre- 
quently in  the  ascendant  as  the  more  noble. 

But  with  the  advent  of  Christianity  this 
heritage  from  the  last  two  centuries  was  all 
but  wholly  transformed,  and  the  New  Testa- 
ment represents  in  one  of  its  main  aspects 
the  consummation  of  the  spiritual  travail  of 
Israel's  seers  and  sages,  and  especially  of  those 
of  the  last  two  centuries. 

Owing  to  the  transformation  of  the  Old 
Testament  ideas  in  this  literature  and  especi- 
ally in  the  New  Testament  the  student  must 
expect  to  find  that  what  was  the  meaning  of 
a  word  or  phrase  in  the  Old  Testament  is  no 
longer  the  same  in  the  New  Testament.  Let 
me  take  as  an  illustration  the  phrase  "  strangers 
and  sojourners." 

In  the  Old  Testament  we  find  the  saints  in 


INTRODUCTION  11 

Israel  spoken  of  as  being  "  strangers  and 
sojourners  with  God  "  (Lev.  xxv.  23 ;  Ps.  xxxix. 
13),  that  is,  God  was  regarded  as  their  tem- 
porary host,  with  whom  they  sojourned  for  a 
few  years  and  then  passed  to  their  eternal 
home  beyond  His  jurisdiction.  When,  how- 
ever, we  pass  to  the  New  Testament  the  phrase 
has  assumed  a  directly  opposite  significance. 
There  the  saints  are  designated,  it  is  true,  as 
strangers  and  pilgrims  on  the  earth  (Heb.  xi. 
13),  or  as  "  strangers  and  sojourners  "  (Eph. 
ii.  19),  but  they  are  so  designated,  just  because 
their  true  citizenship  is  even  now  in  heaven 
(Phil.  iii.  20),  in  the  city  that  God  has  pre- 
pared for  them  (Heb.  xi.  16);  and  so  far  from 
being  sons  of  earth  they  are  even  now  full 
citizens  of  the  sacred  commonwealth,  and  sons 
of  God's  own  house  (Eph.  ii.  19). 


CHAPTER   I 

PROPHECY   AND   APOCALYPTIC  * 

All  true  growth  in  religion  springs  from 
the  communion  of  man  with  God,  wherein 
man  learns  the  will  of  God,  and  thereby 
becomes  an  organ  of  God,  a  personalised  con- 
science, a  revealer  of  divine  truth  for  men  less 
inspired  than  himself.  The  truth  thus  revealed 
through  a  man  possesses  a  divine  authority 
for  men;  for  all  such  true  knowledge  of  God 
can  be  verified  in  a  greater  or  lesser  degree 
by  personal  experience.  There  are  amongst 
the  faithful  those  who  assimilate  and  verify 
the  truths  of  the  past  and  thus  preserve  the 
spiritual  tradition;  for  spirit  is  born  of  spirit 
as  flesh  is  born  of  flesh.  There  are  others  who 
do  more  :  they  not  only  verify  the  religious 
truths  of  the  past  but  they  add  to  them 
others  won  in  personal  communion  with  the 
immediate  Living  God.  Now,  if  revelation  is 
to  be  progressive,  each  new  disclosure  must 

1  Considerable    sections    in    this    chapter    have    been 
taken  over  from  my  Critical  History  of  the  Doctrine  of 
a  Future  Life  (second  edition). 
12 


PROPHECY  AND  APOCALYPTIC  13 

build  on  those  which  have  gone  before,  and 
under  the  conditions   of  life  in  the  ancient 
world   this   could   take   place   only   within  a 
society  or  nation,  which  had  assimilated  the 
sum  of  such  past  revelations.     Such  a  process 
could    not    be    international    in    the   ancient 
world ;  for  though  there  was  some  interchange 
of  ideas   between  nation  and  nation,   yet  it 
was  sporadic  and  not  continuous.     Thus  only 
within  one  and  the  same  nation  could  there 
be  the  free  communication  of  thought  and 
spiritual   life,   which  an  unbroken   prophetic 
succession    postulates.     Outside   this    society 
or  nation  there  might  be  some  true  knowledge 
of    God :    nay    more,  there    was    some    such 
knowledge  of  God  in  various  nations,  embodied 
in   their   myths   and   religious   traditions   by 
isolated  mystics,  seers,  thinkers  and  schools 
of  seekers  after  God,  but  somehow  the  pro- 
phetic succession  outside  Israel  always  failed 
prematurely  or  became  corrupt.     But  in  this 
respect  Israel  proved  itself  the  chosen  nation; 
for  in  it  the  succession  of  seers,  prophets,  wise 
men   and   apocalyptists   was   unbroken,    and 
lasted  till  under  the  providence  of  God  the 
Greek  and  Roman  empires  had  destroyed  the 
old  barriers  that  divided  nation  from  nation, 
and   so   prepared   the   way,    whereby   Chris- 
tianity   could    go    forth    from    the    narrow 


14,       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

confines  of  Palestine  and  become  the  religion 
of  the  world.      J  \t  , '  t    ■  '■  ,  i 

In  the  religious  development  of  Israel,  the 
chief  agents  in  pre-Exilic  times  were  seers  and 
prophets,  and,  during  the  Exile  and  after  it, 
prophets,  biblical  students  and  apocalyptists. 
With  the  latter  period  we  are  mainly  con- 
cerned at  present,  and  particularly  with 
apocalyptic  and  its  relation  to  prophecy,  and 
the  relation  of  both  to  Christianity. 

1  The  current  view  on  these  questions  in  the 
past,  not  only  amongst  the  laity  but*  also 
amongst  scholars  generally,  '  was  that  to 
prophecy1  was  due  all  or  practically  all  the 

1  Prophecy  was  the  declaration  of  the  counsel  or  will 
of  God,  either  spoken  or  written.  It  was  the  task  of  the 
prophet,  coming  forward  in  his  own  person  to  deal  mainly 
with  the  present  and  with  the  future  only  as  arising  out 
of  it.  Prophecy  was  the  form  of  expression  adopted  by 
most  of  the  great  religious  leaders  in  Israel  and  Judah 
from  the  eighth  to  the  fourth  century  B.C.  But  when  pro- 
phecy became  impossible  owing  to  the  claims  of  the  law, 
its  place  was  taken,  from  the  fourth  century  onwards,  by 
apocalyptic,  which  in  Judaism  remained  always  pseu- 
donymous. Apocalyptic  is  only  another  word  for  "  reve- 
lation," and  apocalyptist  for  "  revealer."  Essentially, 
therefore,  prophecy  and  apocalyptic  were  identical,  but 
;accidentally  they  differed  in  respect  to  their  acknowledged 
or  pseudonymous  authorship,  the  subjects  they  dealt 
[with,  and  the  periods  in  which  they  flourished.  In 
Christianity  apocalytic  ceased  to  be  pseudonymous  for  a 
Itime,  and  so  became  truly  identical  with  prophecy.  Thus 
the  author  of  the  Apocalypse  in  the  New  Testament  de- 
scribes himself  rightly  as  a  prophet. 


PROPHECY  AND  APOCALYPTIC  15 

religious  development  of  Israel ;  that  between 
Malachi  and  the  Christian  era  there  was  a 
period  of  silence,  in  which  there  was  no  inspira- 
tion and  no  prophet,  and  no  development 
in  religious  thought  and  experience,  and  that 
Christianity  practically  leapt  full  grown  into 
life  at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  un- 
beholden  to  these  so-called  years  of  silence. 
These  ideas  have  been  rudely  shattered  by 
the  research  of  recent  years,  and  the  vast 
services  of  apocalyptic  not  only  to  Judaism 
but  still  more  to  Christianity  are  now  steadily 
coming  into  recognition.  But  owing  to  wide- 
spread misapprehensions  of  the  meaning  of 
apocalyptic,  these  services  have  been  mis- 
conceived and  misrepresented  by  notable 
scholars  such  as  Harnack  in  Germany  and 
Professor  Porter  in  Yale  University.  Harnack 
regards  apocalyptic  as  "an  evil  inheritance 
which  the  Christians  took  over  from  the  Jews," 
and  yet  one  which  "  encircled  the  earliest 
Christendom  as  with  a  wall  of  fire  and  pre- 
served it  from  a  too  early  contact  with  the 
world."  Harnack  has  not  been  a  close  student 
of  apocalyptic  and  his  errors  in  this  field  are 
therefore  excusable.  But  what  shall  we  say 
of  Porter,  who  has  studied  apocalyptic  seri- 
ously and  written  that  excellent  little  work 
entitled    The    Messages    of    the    Apocalyptic 


16       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

Writers,  and  who  yet  states  that  "  prophecy 
and  apocalyptic  represent  two  contrasted 
conceptions  of  the  nature  of  revelation,  two 
ideas  of  the  supernatural,  two  estimates  of 
the  present  life,  two  theologies,  almost  two 
religions  (op.  cit.,  p.  71).  Now  it  can  be  shown 
that  Old  Testament  prophecy  and  apocalyptic 
are  not  opposed  to  each  other  essentially  : 
that  fundamentally  they  have  a  common 
basis  and  use  for  the  most  part  the  same 
methods :  that  apocalyptic  no  less  than 
prophecy  is  radically  ethical  :  that,  while 
some  of  the  leading  conceptions  of  prophecy 
became  untenable  in  the  face  of  the  problems 
stated  in  Job  and  Ecclesiastes,  the  answers 
to  these  problems,  which  in  developed  forms 
all  religious  men  accept  this  day,  were  first 
given  by  apocalyptic  and  not  by  prophecy. 

We  shall  now  enumerate,  but  only  enu- 
merate, the  points  wherein  prophecy  and 
apocalyptic  are  essentially  at  one >  and  those 
wherein  they  diverge.  We  shall  thus  best 
apprehend  the  contributions  of  both  to  the 
religious  history  of  the  world. 

1.  First,  the  channels  through  which  prophet 
and  apocalyptist  either  sought  or  came  to 
learn  the  will  of  God,  or  think  God's  thoughts 
after  Him,  are  in  the  main  the  same  Thus 
the  prophet's  knowledge  came  through  visions, 


PROPHECY  AND  APOCALYPTIC     17 

trances,  and  through  spiritual,  and  yet  not 
unconscious,  communion  with  God  —  the 
highest  form  of  inspiration. 

2.  Again,  prophecy  and  apocalyptic  have 
each  its  own  eschatology.1  I  must  pause  here 
for  a  moment  to  emphasise  the  fact  that 
eschatology  is  not  to  be  identified  either  with 
prophecy  or  apocalyptic.  With  each  it  is  in 
part  synonymous.  Eschatology  is  strictly 
the  doctrine  of  the  last  things  :  and  is  no 
more  to  be  identified  with  apocalyptic  than 
it  should  be  with  prophecy — a  most  radical 
blunder  that  has  been  made  recently  by  many 
English  and  German  scholars.  Prophetic 
eschatology  is  the  child  of  prophecy,  and 
apocalyptic  eschatology  is  the  child  of  apo- 
calyptic. As  might  be  expected,  the  two 
eschatologies  by  no  means  agree.  To  some 
of  the  differences  between  the  prophetic  and 
apocalyptic  eschatologies  I  will  now  draw 
your  attention. 

Differences  between  the  eschatologies  of  pro- 
phecy and  apocalyptic.  The  eschatology  of 
the  prophets  dealt  only  with  the  destiny  of 
Israel,  as  a  nation,  and  the  destinies  of  the 


1  Eschatology  means  simply  the  doctrine  of  the  last 
things,  such  as  judgment,  the  Messianic  kingdom,  the 
resurrection,  etc.    The  character  of  suoh  beliefs  varied 
from  age  to  age, 
B 


18       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

Gentile  nations,  but  it  had  no  message  of 
light  or  comfort  for  the  individual  beyond 
the  grave.  For  all  men  ultimately,  whether 
of  Israel  or  of  the  Gentiles,  Sheol,  the  un- 
blessed abode  of  the  shades,  was  the  final 
and  everlasting  habitation. 

Every  advance  on  this  heathen  conception  we 
owe  to  apocalyptic.  (1)  The  belief  in  a  blessed 
future  life  springs  not  from  prophecy,  but  from 
apocalyptic.  With  this  doctrine  the  Old  Testa- 
ment prophet  qud  prophet  was  not  concerned. 
Not  even  a  hint  of  it  is  to  be  found  in  Old 
Testament  prophecy.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  apocalyptist  made  it  a  fundamental 
postulate  of  his  belief  in  God.  Thus  it  is 
stated  as  an  unquestionable  truth  in  Daniel, 
in  the  late  Apocalypse,  which  was  incorporated 
in  Isaiah  xxiv.-xxvii.rv  in  the  apocalyptic 
Psalms  xlix.  and  lxxiii.,'and  the  foundations 
of  the  doctrine  are  to  be  found  in  Job,  which 
exhibits  the  characteristic  features  and  ques- 
tionings of  Jewish  apocalyptic.  Only  the 
beginnings  of  this  doctrine,  it  is  true,  are  to 
be  found  in  the  Old  Testament.  Its  further 
development  and  spiritualisation  were  carried 
on  in  the  later  apocalyptic  school.  It  is  a 
genuine  product  of  Jewish  inspiration,  and 
at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  was 
accepted  by  the  entire  Jewish  nation,  with 


PROPHECY  AND  APOCALYPTIC    19 

the  exception  of  the  larger  and  radical  wing 
of  the  Sadducean  party. 

(2)  Again,  the  Christian  expectation  of  a 
new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  is  derived  not 
from  prophecy  but  from  apocalyptic.  The 
prophetic  expectation  of  a  blessed  future  for 
the  nation,  however  pure  from  an  ethical 
standpoint,  was  materialistic.  Old  Testament 
prophecy  looked  forward  to  an  eternal  Mes- 
sianic kingdom  on  the  present  earth,  which 
should  be  initiated  by  the  final  judgment, 
but  in  apocalyptic  this  underwent  a  gradual 
transformation,  till  the  hopes  of  the  righteous 
were  transferred  from  a  kingdom  of  material 
blessedness  to  a  spiritual  kingdom,  in  which 
they  were  to  be  as  the  angels  and  become 
companions  of  the  heavenly  hosts.  This 
transference  of  the  hopes  of  the  faithful  from 
the  material  world,  took  place  about  100  B.C. 
At  this  period  the  earth  had  come  to  be 
regarded  as  wholly  unfit  for  this  kingdom, 
and  thus  new  conceptions  of  the  kingdom 
arose,  and  it  was  taught  by  many  that  the 
Messianic  kingdom  was  to  be  merely  of 
temporary  duration,  and  that  the  goal  of  the 
risen  righteous  was  to  be — not  this  temporary 
kingdom  or  millennium — but  heaven  itself. 
This  conception,  combined  with  kindred 
apocalyptic    beliefs,    begat    an    attitude    of 


20       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

detachment  from  this  world.  The  faithful 
while  in  the  world  were  not  of  it.  This  temper 
of  apocalyptic  but  not  of  prophecy  finds 
expression  in  the  New  Testament  in  the 
words :  "  Here  we  have  no  continuing  city  " : 
V  We  look  for  a  city  whose  builder  and  maker 
is  God." 

If  we  try  to  appreciate  these  revolutions  in 
religious  thought,  we  shall  in  some  degree 
apprehend  their  vast  significance.  In  the 
kingdom  of  God,  as  expected  by  the  Old 
Testament  prophets,  though  righteousness  was 
to  be  therein  supreme,  there  was  a  large 
element  of  materialism.  The  emphasis  was 
laid  on  the  community,  on  its  security  and 
permanence  and  happiness.  But  the  thought 
was  almost  wholly  of  the  community  and  not 
of  the  individual. 

Only  the  faithful  who  survived  till  that 
blessed  era  should  enjoy  it  and  none  others. 
Furthermore,  though  the  kingdom  itself  was 
to  be  for  everlasting,  there  was  no  such 
promise  for  the  individual  who  lived  to  share 
its  glories.  He  should  enjoy  it  for  an  indefinite 
period  and  then  depart  from  God's  presence 
to  Sheol. 

If  we  penetrate  beneath  the  surface  of  such 
conceptions,  we  discover  that  they  imply  that 
things  were  of  more  concern  than  souls,  it 


PROPHECY  AND  APOCALYPTIC  21 

matters  not  whether  these  things  be  things 
celestial  or  things  terrestrial.  These  concep- 
tions, therefore,  are  somewhat  of  a  materialistic 
character.  But  with  the  advent  of  the  belief 
in  a  blessed  immortality  of  all  the  faithful, 
and  in  a  kingdom  of  spiritual  blessedness,  the 
emphasis  was  transferred  from  the  material 
to  the  spiritual,  from  things  to  souls.  What- 
ever the  things  may  be,  souls  are  of  infinitely 
higher  worth.1 

(3)  One  more  doctrine  which  has  been 
adopted  into  later  Judaism  and  the  New 
Testament,  not  from  prophecy,  though  the 
germs  of  it  are  there,  but  from  apocalyptic, 
is  that  the  end  of  the  present  world  will  be 
catastrophic.  According  to  science,  there 
are  two  possible  endings  of  the  earth.  Either 
it  will  perish  slowly  through  cold,  owing  to 
the  failing  energies  of  the  sun,  and  life  revert 

1  However  great  may  be  the  individual  achievements 
of  poet,  prophet,  philosopher,  scholar,  statesman  or 
scientist,  they  are  but  partial  expressions  of  the  personal- 
ities that  appeared  here  for  a  time,  and  then  went  else- 
where for  further  discipline,  for  higher  service  and  fuller 
expression.  The  true  worker  is  ever  greater  than  his 
work,  and  can  never  fully  express  himself  in  his  work, 
and  thus,  whereas  the  true  worker  shall  live  and  grow 
and  do  ever  greater  works  for  evermore,  his  works  here, 
so  far  as  they  assume  an  outward  form,  can  never  have 
more  than  an  ephemeral  existence,  seeing  that  the  very 
planet  he  lives  on  is  from  the  standpoint  of  eternity  itself 
ephemeral. 


22       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

to 'a  savagery  beyond  our  imaginings,  and 
the  last  men  die  in  mortal  strife  for  the  last 
faggot  and  the  last  crust  of  bread;  or  the 
earth  will  suddenly  be  destroyed  catastrophi- 
cally  by  the  impact  of  some  other  heavenly 
body,  or  by  the  outburst  of  its  own  internal 
fires.  While  science  of  necessity  can  only 
predict  two  possible  endings  of  the  world, 
apocalyptic  declared  that  the  end  of  the 
present  order  of  things  will  be  catastrophic. 

This  teaching  of  apocalyptic  cannot  fail  to 
commend  itself  to  the  faith  of  every  thoughtful 
man.  For  if  we  believe  the  teaching  of  science 
as  to  the  conservation  of  energy — even  of  the 
lowest  forms  of  it— then  still  more  must  we 
believe  in  the  conservation  of  the  highest 
forms  of  energy  that  have  appeared  on  earth, 
the  personalities  of  saints  and  heroes,  yea,  and 
of  the  nameless  and  numberless  multitudes, 
in  whom  have  been  realised  the  divine  energies 
of  courage  and  truth,  of  faith  and  of  unfailing 
hope,  of  love  and  boundless  self-sacrifice. 

(4)  Again,  prophecy,  though  mainly  devot- 
ing itself  to  the  present  and  to  the  future 
so  far  as  it  rose  organically  out  of  the  present, 
occasionally  took  account  of  the  past  (Jer. 
iii.  6  seqq.,  Ezek.  xvi.).  Its  object  in  so  doing 
was  to  show  the  true  nature  of  that  past, 
and  to  bring  to  light  the'  real  principles  and 


PROPHECY  AND  APOCALYPTIC  23 

agencies  that  moulded  that  past,  and  to  show 
the  inevitable  goal  to  which  they  led.  This, 
too,  is  characteristic  of  apocalyptic,  but  in  a 
far  greater  degree.  Thus  Dan.  ii.  31,  32, 37-38, 
iv.  7-12,  vii.,  viii.  deal  with  the  present  or 
immediate  past;  1  Enoch  lxxxv.-vi.  with  all 
the  past  preceding  the  life  of  Enoch ;  2  Baruch 
liii.,  lvi.-lxix.  with  the  leading  crises  in  the 
history  of  the  world  down  to  Baruch's  time; 
the  Sybillines  iii.  819  seqq.,  ii.  5-290  with  an 
account  of  the  beginnings  of  history  down  to 
the  Deluge.  But  the  classical  example  of 
this  treatment  of  the  past  is  to  be  found  in 
the  New  Testament  Apocalypse,  chap,  xii., 
where  the  birth  of  Christ,  and  certain  other 
great  events  prior  to  the  date  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse are  recounted.  Other  examples  discover 
themselves  in  chap.  xiii.  1-4,  11-12,  14,  etc. 

But  whilst  prophecy  and  apocalyptic  occupy 
to  some  extent  the  same  province,  the  scope 
of  apocalyptic  is  incommensurably  greater. 
Thus,  whereas  prophecy  incidentally  dealt 
with  the  past  and  devoted  itself  to  the  present 
and  the  future  as  rising  organically  out  of 
the  past,  apocalyptic,  though  its  interests  lie 
chiefly  in  the  future  as  containing  the  solution 
of  the  problems  of  the  past  and  present,  took 
within  its  purview  things  past,  present,  and 
to  come.     It  is  no  mere  history  of  such  things. 


24       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

While  the  ordinary  man  saw  only  the  outside 
of  things  in  all  their  incoherence  and  isolation, 
the  apocalyptist  sought  to  get  behind  the 
surface  and  penetrate  to  the  essence  of  events, 
the  spiritual  purposes  and  forces  that  underlie 
and  give  them  their  real  significance.  With 
this  end  in  view  apocalyptic  sketched  in  out- 
line the  history  of  the  world  and  of  mankind, 
the  origin  of  evil,  its  course,  and  inevitable 
overthrow,  the  ultimate  triumph  of  righteous- 
ness, and  the  final  consummation  of  all  things. 
It  was  thus,  in  short,  a  Semitic  philosophy 
of  religion,  and  as  such  it  was  ever  asking, 
Whence  ?  Wherefore  2  Whither  ?  and  it  put 
these  questions  in  connection  with  the  world, 
the  Gentiles,  .Israel  and  the  individual. 
Apocalyptic  and  not  prophecy  was  the  first 
to  grasp  the  great  idea  that  all  history,  alike 
human,  cosmological,  and  spiritual,  is  a  unity 
— a  unity  following  naturally  as  a  corollary 
of  the  unity  of  God  preached  by  the  prophets. 
Such  problems  arose  inevitably  in  Israel, 
owing  to  Israel's  belief  in  monotheism  and 
the  righteousness  of  God.  The  righteousness 
of  God  postulated  the  temporal  prosperity 
of  the  righteous,  and  this  postulate  was 
accepted  and  enforced  by  the  Law.  But  the 
expectations  thus  founded  and  fostered  had 
been  falsified,  and  thus  a  grave  contradiction 


PROPHECY  AND  APOCALYPTIC  25 

had  emerged  between  the  prophetic  ideals 
and  the  actual  experience  of  the  nation  and 
of  the  individual,  To  the  difficulties  affecting 
the  individual  prophecy  could  give  no  answer 
at  all.  The  prophets  could  promise  a  blessed 
future  for  the  nation,  but  for  the  individual 
they  could  foretell,  as  we  have  seen,  only 
Sheol.  Ezekiel,  it  is  true,  said  there  was  no 
problem  and  no  difficulty ;  for  that  every  man 
was  recompensed  in  this  life  exactly  as  he 
deserved,  that  his  outward  lot  harmonised 
perfectly  with  his  inner  character.  This  is  the 
last  word  that  prophecy  had  to  say  on  the 
destiny  of  the  individual,  and  so  Ezekiel's 
view  became  the  orthodox  dogma  of  Judaism. 
But  such  a  shallow  dogma  was  presently 
challenged  and  controverted  by  Job  and 
Ecclesiastes,  and  but  for  the  services  of 
apocalyptic  in  this  field,  true  religion  could 
not  have  survived  in  Palestine  save  in  the 
case  of  a  handful  of  mystics. 

Since  study  and  reflection  entered  largely 
into  the  life  of  the  apocalyptist,  and  his  chief 
studies  were  confined  to  the  sacred  books  of 
Israel,  it  follows  that  a  not  unimportant 
element  in  apocalyptic  is  that  of  unfulfilled 
prophecy.  Unfulfilled  prophecy  had  been 
clearly  a  matter  of  religious  difficulty  to  the 
prophets   themselves.     The    unfulfilled    pro- 


26        RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

phecies  of  the  older  prophets  were  re-edited  by 
the  later. 

Thus  Ezekiel  takes  up  one  such  prophecy 
and  reinterprets  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  show 
that  its  fulfilment  is  yet  in  the  future.  The 
prophets  Jeremiah  (iii.-vi.)  and  Zephaniah 
had  foretold  the  invasion  of  Judah  by  a 
mighty  people  from  the  North.  But  this 
northern  foe  had  failed  to  appear.  And  yet 
appear  he  must ;  for  was  not  inspired  prophecy 
pledged  thereto  ?  Hence  Ezekiel  re-edits  this 
prophecy  in  a  new  form,  and  adjourns  its 
fulfilment.  Thus,  according  to  Ezek.  xxxviii. 
8,  16,  a  mighty  host  (i.  e.  Gog)  in  the  future 
will  attack  Jerusalem  from  the  North.  This 
host,  Ezekiel  declares,  is  the  foe  foretold  by 
the  prophets :  "  Thou  art  he  of  whom  I  spake 
by  my  servants  the  prophets  of  Israel,  which 
prophesied  in  those  days  for  many  years  that  I 
would  bring  thee  against  them  "  (xxxviii.  17). 

Many  other  traces  of  the  apocalyptic  type 
of  thought  discover  themselves  in  Ezekiel, 
and  it  is  not  without  reason  that  Duhm  has 
called  Ezekiel  the  spiritual  founder  of  apoca- 
lyptic. 

The  non-fulfilment  of  prophecies  relating 
to  this  or  that  individual  event  or  people 
served,  no  doubt,  to  popularise  the  methods 
of  apocalyptic,  but  only  in  a  very  slight  degree 


PROPHECY  AND  APOCALYPTIC  27 

in  comparison  with  the  nonfulfillment  of  the 
greatest  of  all  prophecies — the  advent  of  the 
Messianic  kingdom.  Thus,  though  Jeremiah 
had  promised  that  after  seventy  years  (xxv. 
11,  xxix.  10)  Israel  should  be  restored  to  their 
own  land  (xxiv.  5,  6),  and  there  enjoy  the 
blessings  of  the  Messianic  kingdom  under  the 
Messianic  King  (xxiii.  5,  6),  this  period  had 
passed  by,  and  things  remained  as  of  old. 
A  similar  expectation  was  cherished  by 
Ezekiel,  but  this  no  more  than  that  of  Jere- 
miah was  destined  to  be  fulfilled.  Next, 
Haggai  and  Zechariah  promised  that,  when 
the  temple  was  rebuilt,  the  Davidic  kingdom 
should  be  established  and  the  glories  of  the 
Messianic  time  appear.  The  temple  was 
presently  rebuilt,  but  the  kingdom  failed  to 
appear.  Through  century  after  century  the 
hope  for  the  advent  of  the  kingdom  still 
persisted,  and  was  possibly  sustained  with 
fresh  reinterpretations  of  ancient  prophecy. 

At  any  rate,  in  the  first  half  of  the  second 
century  b.c«  we  have  two  notable  reinterpre- 
tations of  the  old  prophecy  of  Jeremiah,  In 
both  of  these  works  the  problem  is  solved  by 
adjourning  the  hour  of  fulfilment.  In  the 
first — the  Book  of  Daniel,  circa  168-165  b,c. 
— the  writer  (ix.  25-27)  interprets  the  70  years 
of  Jeremiah  as  70  weeks  of  years  »  490  years . 


28       RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

Since  69  §  of  these  had  already  expired,  there 
were  only  8 J  years  to  run  before  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Greek  power  and  the  consumma- 
tion of  the  Theocracy.  In  the  second,  and 
almost  contemporaneous  work — 1  Enoch 
lxxxiii.-xc,  circa  166-161  B.C. — a  somewhat 
analogous  solution  of  the  problem  is  given. 
The  writer  takes  the  70  years  of  Jeremiah 
to  denote  the  70  successive  reigns  of  the  70 
angelic  patrons  to  whom  God  had  committed 
the  care  and  administration  of  the  world. 
Since  the  sway  of  these  angelic  rulers  was  to 
terminate  within  the  present  generation,  the 
Messianic  kingdom  was,  therefore,  at  hand. 

Both  the  above  periods  came  and  passed 
by,  and  again  the  expectations  of  the  Jews 
were  doomed  to  disappointment.  The  Greek 
empire  in  the  East  was  indeed  overthrown, 
and  an  independent  kingdom  of  Judah  set 
up  under  the  Maccabean  dynasty.  But  this 
latter  speedily  showed  itself  to  be  in  many 
respects  the  antithesis  of  the  promised  king- 
dom of  God.  Thenceforward  the  Messianic 
hopes  undergo  an  absolute  transformation. 
They  are  still  cherished,  indeed,  but  their 
object  is  no  longer  an  eternal  but  only  a  tem- 
porary theocracy  established  on  the  present 
earth.  The  solutions  of  Daniel  and  Enoch 
(lxxxix.,  xc.)  have  been  perforce  abandoned 


PROPHECY  AND  APOCALYPTIC    29 

for  the  time,  but  the  number  seventy  still 
possesses  a  strong  fascination  for  the  Jewish 
writer  of  apocalyptic.  Thus  in  1  Enoch 
xci.-civ.  (circa  105-95  B.C.)  the  whole  history 
of  the  world  is  divided  into  ten  weeks,  each 
apparently  of  seven  generations.  The  Mes- 
sianic kingdom  is  to  be  established  at  the 
beginning  of  the  eighth  week,  and  to  terminate 
with  the  seventh  day  of  the  tenth.  The 
writer  is  living  at  the  close  of  the  seventh 
week  (1  Enoch  xciii.  10).  Hence  the  kingdom 
is  close  at  hand.  But  this  hope  no  more  than 
its  predecessors  met  with  fulfilment. 

We  shall  now  pass  over  a  period  of  a  century 
and  a  half.  During  this  interval,  a  new  and 
more  ruthless  power  had  taken  the  place  of 
the  Greek  empire  in  the  East.  This  new 
phenomenon  called,  therefore,  for  a  fresh 
reinterpretation  of  Daniel.  The  fourth  and 
last  empire,  which,  according  to  Dan.  vii. 
19-25,  was  to  be  Greek,  was  now  declared 
to  be  Roman  by  the  writer  of  2  Baruch 
xxxvi.-xl.  (circa  a.d.  50-70),  and  likewise  by 
the  author  of  4  Ezra  x.  60-xii.  35  (circa  a.d. 
90.)  In  the  latter  work  the  vwriter  implies 
that  the  vision  in  Dan.  vii.  7,  8  was  misin- 
terpreted by  the  angel  in  vii.  23-25. 

Prophecy  has  always  been  recognised  as  the 
greatest  ethical  force  in  the  ancient  world.  // 


30       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

Such  also  was  apocalyptic  in  its  time,  and  yet 
an  attempt  has  recently  been  made  by  ad- 
vanced liberals  to  differentiate  prophecy  and 
apocalyptic  on  the  ground  that  apocalyptic 
and  ethics  are  distinct,  and  that  ethics  are 
the  kernel  and  apocalyptic  the  husk,  which 
Christianity  shed  when  it  ceased  to  need  it. 
But  apocalyptic  was  essentially  ethical.  To 
use  the  mixed  metaphor  of  St.  Paul,  it  was 
rooted  and  grounded  in  ethics,  and  that  an 
ethics  based  on  the  essential  righteousness  of 
God.  In  every  crisis  of  the  world's  history, 
when  the  good  cause  was  overthrown  and  the 
wrong  triumphant,  its  insistent  demand  was 
ever  :  "  Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth 
do  right  ?  "  and  its  uncompromising  optimism, 
its  unconquerable  faith  under  the  most  over- 
whelming disasters  was  :  "  God  reigns,  and 
righteousness  shall  ultimately  prevail." 

What  else  than  an  inexpugnable  sense  of 
truth,  and  duty  to  truth,  inspire  the  refusal 
of  the  three  children  in  Daniel  to  fall  down 
and  worship  the  image  that  the  king  had  set 
up  ?  When  the  king  demands,  "  Who  is  that 
God  that  shall  deliver  you  out  of  my  hands  ?  " 
mark  the  splendid  heroism  of  their  reply  : 
"  There  is  a  God  whom  we  serve  who  is  able 
to  deliver  us  from  the  burning  fiery  furnace; 
and  He  will  deliver  us  out  of  thy  hand,  O 


PROPHECY  AND  APOCALYPTIC  31 

king.  But  if  not,  be  it  known  unto  thee,  O 
king,  that  we  will  not  serve  thy  gods,  nor 
worship  the  golden  image  which  thou  hast 
set  up  "  (iii.  17  sqq.).  Now  let  us  turn  to  the 
apocalyptic  books  outside  the  Canon,  and  hear 
what  the 'Testaments  of  the  XII.  Patriarchs 
say  of  the  faithful  doer  of  the  word  of  God. 

44  Every  man  that  knoweth  the  law  of  the 

Lord  shall  be  honoured, 
And  shall  not  be  a  stranger  whithersoever 

he  goeth — 
For  though  there  be  a  leading  into  captivity, 
And  cities  and  lands  be  destroyed, 
And  gold  and  silver  and  every  possession 

perish, 
The  wisdom  of  the  wise  can  nought  take 

away, 
Save  the  blindness  of  ungodliness, 
Or  the  callousness  that  comes  of  sin. 
Even  among  his  enemies  shall  wisdom  be  a 

glory  to  him, 
And  in  a  strange  country  a  fatherland, 
And  in  the  midst  of  foes  shall  prove  a  friend." 
T.  Lev.  xiii.  3,  7-8. 

Or  again,  when  to  faithless  men  excusing 
their  moral  derelictions  on  the  ground  of 
Adam's  transgression  the  apocalyptist  denies 
the  right  of  such  an  excuse,  and  retorts  in 
the  pregnant  words,  4t  Not  Adam,  but  every 
man  is  the  Adam  of  his  own  soul." 


82       RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

There  are  numberless  other  passages  show- 
ing the  moral  depth  and  inwardness  of  this 
literature.  What  nobler  advice  could  the 
best  ethical  Christian  teacher  give  to  a 
defeated  rival  than  this,  "  If  a  man  is  pros- 
pered beyond  you,  do  not  be  vexed,  but 
even  have  recourse  unto  prayer  on  his  behalf, 
that  he  may  be  prospered  to  the  full  "  (T.  Gad. 
vii.  1);  or  again,  "  If  any  man  seeketh  to  do 
evil  unto  you,  do  him  a  good  turn,  and  pray 
for  him,  and  so  from  all  evil  ye  shall  be  re- 
deemed of  the  Lord"  (T.  Jos.  xviii.  2);  or 
again,  "  The  holy  man  is  merciful  to  him 
that  revileth  him,  and  holdeth  his  peace  " 
(T.  Benj.  v.  4)  ? 

The  ethical  teaching  on  these  subjects  in 
apocalyptic  is  a  vast  advance  on  that  of  the 
Old  Testament,  and  forms  the  indispensable 
link  which  in  this  respect  connects  the  Old 
Testament  with  the  New. 

From  these  facts  it  follows  that  prophecy 
and  apocalyptic  are,  in  the  main,  concerned 
with  the  same  objects,  that  they  use,  in  the  main9 
the  same  methods,  but  that,  whereas  the  scope 
of  prophecy  was  limited,  as  regards  time  and 
space,  that  of  apocalyptic  was  as  wide  as  the 
universe  and  as  unlimited  as  time.  Moreover, 
inasmuch  as  prophecy  had  died  long  before 
the  Christian  era,   and  its  place  had  been 


PROPHECY  AND  APOCALYPTIC  33 

taken  by  apocalyptic,  it  was  from  the  apo-  h 
calyptic  side  of  Judaism  that  Christianity 
was  born — and  in  that  region  of  Palestine 
where  apocalyptic  and  not  legalism  held  its 
seat-^even  in  Galilee,  from  whence,  as  we 
know,  came  our  Lord  and  eleven  of  His 
disciples. 

The  existence  of  two  forms  of  Pharisaism 
in  pre-Christian  Judaism,  i.  e.  the  apocalyptic 
and  the  legalistic,  which  were  the  historical 
forerunners  respectively  of  Christianity  and 
Talmudic  Judaism,  demands  here  further 
notice.  When  we  speak  of  apocalyptic  and 
legalistic  Judaism,  it  must  not  be  inferred 
that  in  pre-Christian  times  these  two  were 
essentially  antagonistic.  This  would  be  a 
wholly  mistaken  inference.  Fundamentally 
their  origin  was  the  same.  Both  started 
from  the  basis  of  the  Law.  This  is  obvious 
with  regard  to  legalistic  Pharisaism,  but  it  is 
true  no  less  of  apocalyptic.  The  most  univer- 
salistic  and  ethical  of  all  the  apocalyptic 
writings,  i.  e.  the  Testaments  of  the  XII. 
Patriarchs,  declares  that  "  the  law  is  the 
light  that  light eth  every  man."  To  every 
Jewish  apocalyptic  writer  the  Law  was  of 
eternal  validity.  We  have  evidence  of  this 
conjunction  of  legalism  and  apocalyptic  in 
the  canonical  Book  of  Joel.  The  Law  is 
o 


84       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

there  recognised  as  authoritative,  its  ritual 
is  a  matter  of  the  highest  import,  and  the 
thoughts  of  the  community  are  directed  to 
the  closely  impending  advent  of  the  Kingdom 
of  God,  which  is  depicted  in  apocalyptic 
colouring  and  with  apocalyptic  features. 
Legalism  and  apocalyptic  are  for  the  time 
welded  together. 

I  have  emphasised  the  original  and  funda- 
mental identity  of  apocalyptic  and  legalistic 
Pharisaism  in  respect  to  devotion  to  the 
Law,  because  Jewish  scholars  in  the  past,  and 
to  a  great  extent  in  the  present,  have  denied 
to  apocalyptic  its  place  in  the  faith  of  pre- 
Christian  orthodox  Judaism.  Such  an  action 
on  their  part  is  absurd,  seeing  that  Talmudic 
Judaism,  no  less  than  Christianity,  owes  its 
spiritual  conceptions  of  the  future  to  apo- 
calyptic. The  affinity  between  Jewish  apo- 
calyptic and  legalism  is  essential,  since  the 
Law  was  for  both  valid  eternally;  but  we 
shall  find  that  when  apocalyptic  passed  over 
into  Christianity,  it  abandoned  this  view  of 
the  Law,  and  became  in  a  measure  anti- 
legalistic.  The  way  was  already  prepared  in 
part  for  this  abandonment  by  apocalyptic  of 
the  Law;  for  the  natural  tendency  of  the 
apocalyptic  and  legalistic  sides  in  Pharisaism 
was  to  lay  more  and  more  emphasis  on  the 


PROPHECY  AND  APOCALYPTIC  35 

chief  factor  of  its  belief  and  study,  to  the 
almost  complete  exclusion  of  the  other.  Thus 
legalistic  Pharisaism  in  time  drove  out  almost 
wholly  the  apocalyptic  element,  and  became 
the  parent  of  Talmudic  Judaism,  whereas 
apocalyptic  Judaism  developed  more  and 
more  the  apocalyptic,  i.  e.  prophetic,  element, 
and  in  the  process  came  to  recognise,  as  in 
4  Ezra,  the  inadequacy  of  the  Law  for  the 
salvation  not  only  of  Israel  as  a  nation,  but 
even  of  a  mere  handful  of  Israelites,  unless 
the  works  of  these  few  were  supplemented  by 
faith  and  accepted  through  the  mercy  of  God. 
Thus  apocalyptic  Pharisaism  became,  speaking 
historically,  the  parent  of  Christianity,  which 
in  the  great  New  Testament  Apocalypse 
exhibits  a  decidedly  anti-legalistic  character. 
The  Law  is  not  once  mentioned  in  the  New 
Testament  Apocalypse.  To  repeat,  then : 
the  Judaism  that  survived  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  was  not  the  same  as  the  Judaism 
of  an  earlier  date. 

We  have  now  dealt  with  the  main  charac- 
teristics which  apocalyptic  and  prophecy 
possess  in  common,  and  those  which  in  some 
degree  mark  them  off  each  from  one  another. 
But  there  is  still  another  characteristic,  and 
this  is,  that,  whereas  prophecy  generally  bears 
the  genuine  name  of  its  author,  apocalyptic 


86       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

is  generally  pseudonymous.  Generally,  I  re- 
peat, for  all  Old  Testament  prophecy  does  not 
belong  to  the  prophets  under  whose  names  it 
is  given,  considerable  portions  of  it  being  in 
fact  anonymous,  as  the  2nd  Isaiah;  and  all 
apocalyptic  is  not  pseudonymous,  for  some 
apocalypses  appear  under  the  names  of  their 
authors  :  Joel  can  justly  be  described  as  a 
genuine  apocalypse  in  the  Old  Testament; 
while  in  the  New  Testament  we  have  the 
Johannine  apocalypse,  and  the  Pauline  apoc- 
alypse in  2  Thessalonians  ii. ;  and  outside 
the  canonical  books  the  Shepherd  of  Hermas  : 
others  moreover  are  anonymous  or  pseudo- 
nymous, as  Isaiah  xxiv.-xxvii.,  and  Zechariah 
ix.-xiv.,  the  fragmentary  Jewish  apocalypse 
in  Mark  xiii.,  and  parallels,  and  a  few  others 
that  can  be  detected  in  the  sources  used  by 
the  author  of  the  New  Testament  Apocalypse. 

From  this  brief  statement  of  the  facts,  it 
follows  that  apocalyptic  was,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Joel,  always  pseudonymous  or 
anonymous  in  Judaism,  down  to  a.d.  1800, 
but  that  it  lost  its  pseudonymous  character, 
in  Christianity  at  all  events,  in  the  first 
century  a.d.  Is  there  any  explanation  of  these 
strange  and  conflicting  phenomena  ? 

Before  entering  on  this  question  I  wish  to 
confess  that  neither  in  my  own  books  nor  in 


PROPHECY  AND  APOCALYPTIC    87 

those  of  any  other  writer  has  any  satisfactory 
explanation  been  given.  But  that  there  is 
such  an  explanation  a  fresh  and  comprehen- 
sive study  of  the  facts  has  convinced  me,  and 
this  explanation  will  now  be  laid  before  the 
reader.  The  anonymity  of  a  great  part  of  the 
Bible  helps  us  to  understand  in  some  degree 
the  adoption  in  later  times  of  pseudonymity. 
The  Hebrew  writer  was  almost  wholly  devoid 
of  the  pride  of  authorship,  and  showed  no 
jealousy  as  to  his  literary  rights.  He  was 
apparently  devoid  of  the  desire  of  personal 
fame;  his  sole  object  was  the  service  of  God 
and  the  well-being  of  the  nation.  Accord- 
ingly the  post-Exilic  writer  adopted  freely 
the  work  of  his  predecessors  and  recast  it 
according  to  the  needs  of  his  own  time,  or  in 
other  cases,  as  in  that  of  the  scribe,  he  re- 
edited  the  works  of  the  ancient  prophets,  and 
introduced  under  their  names  anonymous 
fragments  of  prophecy.  It  is  to  this  process 
of  re-editing  that  we  owe  their  preservation. 
Such  additions  are  in  a  certain  sense  pseu- 
donymous, and  prepare  us  for  the  luxuriant 
growth  of  pseudonymous  prophecy  in  later 
times ;  but  they  are  not  truly  pseudonymous, 
and  as  yet  we  have  no  explanation. 

Again,  it  has  been  urged  by  Gunkel  that 
these   writings   were   in   a   sense   not   really 


88       RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

pseudonymous,  since  much  of  their  material 
was  derived  from  really  ancient  traditions, 
already  current  under  the  names  of  Daniel, 
Enoch,  Noah.  The  final  editor  of  such 
traditions,  being  conscious  that  he  had  not 
originated  but  only  reinterpreted  these  tradi- 
tions, might  reasonably  feel  justified  in 
attaching  to  his  work  an  ancient  name 
associated  with  such  traditions.  There  is  a 
very  slight  substratum  of  truth  is  this  view; 
for  to  a  certain  extent  the  apocalyptist  did 
re-edit  and  republish  earlier  traditions,  but  it 
is  wholly  inadequate  to  explain  the  adoption 
of  pseudonymity.  I  will  now  attempt  to  give 
what  I  consider  a  reasonably  adequate  ex- 
planation of  this  strange  phenomenon. 

Beginning  with  Jewish  prophecy,  we  observe 
that  whereas  pre-Exilic  prophecy  was  first 
spoken  and  then  written,  post-Exilic  prophecy 
was  first  written  and  not  necessarily  spoken 
at  all,  and  that  whereas  the  greatest  pre- 
Exilic  prophecies  were  published  in  the  names 
of  their  authors,  Isaiah,  Hosea,  or  Amos, 
much  post-Exilic  prophecy  was  anonymous. 
The  concluding  chapters  of  Isaiah  and 
Zechariah  ix.-xiv.  are  apocalyptic.  In  Isaiah 
xxiv.-xxvii.,  moreover,  the  writer  deals  with 
the  ultimate  destinies  of  the  world,  of  the 
angels,  and  of  men,  and  proclaims  for  the 


PROPHECY  AND  APOCALYPTIC  89 

first  time  in  existing  Jewish  literature  the 
resurrection  of  righteous  Israelites.  Thus  we 
find  that  apocalyptic  has  not  only  its  roots 
and  early  growth  in  the  Old  Testament :  it 
has  already  arrived  at  a  high  degree  of 
maturity  within  the  Canon  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  that  without  including  in  our 
purview  the  Book  of  Daniel. 

At  this  period  we  have  the  new  type  of 
prophecy,  i,  e.  prophecy  of  a  literary  charac- 
ter. Like  the  earlier  prophecy  it  was  based 
in  part  on  visions  and  personal  revelations. 
When  once  this  literary  type  of  prophecy  had 
firmly  established  itself,  any  one  who,  like 
the  ancient  order  of  prophets,  appeared 
personally  before  the  people  as  a  representa- 
tive of  God,  independent  of  traditional  law 
or  ordinance,  was  practically  regarded  as  an 
impostor.  Thus  the  writer  of  Zechariah  xiii. 
declares  that  if  any  man  attempt  to  prophesy 
in  the  pre-Exilic  fashion  his  father  and 
mother  will  put  him  to  death  as  a  deceiver- 
Joel  in  the  fourth  century  could  still  promise 
an  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  upon  all  flesh. 
This  had  been  a  living  thought  in  Joel,  the 
expectation  of  a  Jewish  pentecost,  but  later 
Jewish  writers  held  that  this  promise  was 
already  fulfilled  in  the  Law.  Thus  the  author 
of  the  Testaments   of  the  XII.   Patriarchs 


40         RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

declares  that  the  Law  is  the  light  that 
lighteth  every  man;  and  the  author  of  the 
Book  of  Jubilees  is  never  weary  of  insisting 
that  the  Law  is  not  the  expression  of  the 
moral  consciousness  of  a  particular  age,  but 
is  valid  for  all  eternity.  When  once  this  idea 
of  an  inspired  Law — adequate,  infallible,  and 
valid  for  all  time — had  become  an  accepted 
dogma  of  Judaism,  as  it  became  in  the  post- 
Exilic  period,  there  was  no  longer  room  for 
independent  representatives  of  God  appearing 
before  men,  such  as  the  pre-Exilic  prophets. 
God  had,  according  to  the  official  teachers  of 
the  Church,  spoken  His  last  and  final  word 
through  the  Law,  and  when  the  hope  is  ex- 
pressed that  in  the  coming  age  a  prophet 
will  arise,  he  was  only  conceived  as  one  whose 
task  was  to  decide  questions  of  ritual  or 
priestly  succession,  or  legal  interpretation  in 
accordance  with  the  Law.  Thus  in  1  Maoc. 
iv.  46  the  stones  of  the  defiled  altar  of  burnt- 
offering  were  to  be  put  aside  till  a  prophet 
arose,  and  in  xiv.  41  (cf.  ix.  27)  the  high- 
priesthood  of  Simon  was  to  be  provisionally 
acknowledged  similarly  till  a  prophet  arose 
who  could  decide  on  the  validity  of  his  high- 
priesthood.  Accordingly  the  first  fact  we 
are  to  recognise  is,  that  from  the  time  of 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah  the  Law  has  not  only 


PROPHECY  AND  APOCALYPTIC  41 

assumed  the  junctions  of  the  ancient  pre-Eorilic 
prophets,  but  it  has  also,  so  far  as  lay  in  its 
power,  made  the  revival  of  such  prophecy  an 
impossibility.  The  prophet  who  issued  a 
prophecy  under  his  own  name  after  the  time 
of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  could  not  expect  a 
hearing  unless  his  prophecy  had  the  im- 
primatur of  the  Law. 

This  is  exactly  the  view  of  the  Rabbinic 
scholars.  Thus  they  taught  that,  whereas 
the  Prophets  and  Hagiographa  will  in  the 
future  cease  to  be,  for  there  is  nothing  in 
them  which  is  not  suggested  in  the  Law 
(Jer.  Meg.  70d;  Taanith,  9a),  "The  Law 
itself  would  endure  for  ever  " ;  and  that  "  Any 
prophet  who  attempted  to  annul  one  of  its 
laws  would  be  punished  by  death  "  (Tosephta 
xiv.  13),  and  that  "  though  all  mankind 
should  combine,  they  could  not  abolish  one 
yod  of  it "  (Cant.  R.  v.  11 ;  Lev.  R.  xix. ; 
Num.  R.  xvii.  etc.).  See  Jewish  Encyc.  xii. 
197. 

It  is  now  clear,  I  think,  that  from  Nehe- 
miah's  time  onward  prophecy  could  not  gain 
a  hearing,  whether  the  prophecy  was  genuine, 
that  is,  appeared  under  the  name  of  its  actual 
author,  or  was  anonymous,  unless  it  was 
acceptable  in  the  eyes  of  the  Law. 

From  the  class  of  genuine  and  anonymous 


42       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

works  we  pass  on  to  the  third  division,  the 
pseudonymous.  There  are  at  all  events  two 
of  them  in  the  Old  Testament,  Ecclesiastes 
and  Daniel.  With  the  former  we  have  here 
no  concern.  But  how  are  we  to  explain  the 
pseudonymity  of  Daniel  and  the  other  apo- 
calyptic works  of  the  second  century  B.C.  such 
as  Enoch,  Jubilees  and  the  Testaments  of 
the  XII.  Patriarchs?  This  pseudonymity 
has  already  in  part  been  explained.  These 
apocalyptists  do  not  simply  repeat  the  old 
truths,  which  in  so  many  cases  had  become 
the  mere  shibboleths  of  a  petrified  orthodoxy, 
they  not  only  challenged  many  of  the  orthodox 
views  of  the  time  and  condemned  them,  but 
they  also  carried  forward  the  revelation  of 
God  in  the  provinces  of  religion,  ethics,  and 
eschatology.  Against  the  reception  of  such 
fresh  faith  and  truth,  the  Law  stood  in  the 
way,  unless  the  books  containing  them  came 
under  the  aegis  of  certain  great  names  in  the 
past.  Against  the '  claims  and  authority  of 
such  names,  the  official  representatives  of  the 
Law  were  in  part  reduced  to  silence,  at  all 
events  in  the  case  of  the  Book  of  Daniel. 
But  there  is  another  ground  for  the  adoption 
of  pseudonymity,  and  when  we  combine  it 
with  the  autocracy  claimed  and  exercised  by 
the  Law  we  have  the  grounds  for  which  we 


PROPHECY  AND   APOCALYPTIC    43 

are  in  search.  This  second  ground  is  the 
formation  of  the  threefold  Canon  of  the  Law, 
the  Prophets,  and  the  Hagiographa.  Before 
the  formation  of  the  prophetic  Canon  anonym- 
ous prophetic  writings  could  gain  currency 
and  acceptance  on  the  ground  of  their  inherent 
worth,  but,  when  once  the  prophetic  Canon 
was  closed,  no  book  of  a  prophetic  character 
could  gain  canonisation  as  such.  Now  the 
collection  of  the  Prophets  existed  pretty  much 
in  its  present  form  about  200  B.C.,  though 
additions  may  have  been  made  to  Hosea, 
Isaiah,  and  Zechariah,  subsequently  to  that 
date.  Into  the  Hagiographa  were  received 
all  books  of  a  religious  character,  of  which 
the  date  was  believed  to  go  back  as  far  as  the 
time  of  Ezra.  To  this  third  division  of  the 
Canon  books  were  admitted  down  to  a.d.  100, 
and  the  last  were  Canticles,  Ecclesiastes,  and 
Esther.  Daniel  was  admitted  to  this  third 
Canon  at  some  period  in  the  second  century 
B.C.,  in  the  belief  that  it  was  written  by  the 
ancient  worthy  of  that  name,  but  not  among 
the  prophets;  for  the  prophetic  Canon  was 
closed.  The  example  of  Daniel  was  followed 
by  Jewish  apocalyptic  down  to  the  thirteenth 
century  a.d.  It  was  pseudonymous,  and  it 
remained  pseudonymous;  for  the  Law  was 
supreme,  inspiration  was  officially  held  to  be 


44       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

dead,  and  the  Canon  was  closed.  Moreover, 
all  the  great  Jewish  apocalypses  which  were 
written  before  a.d,  10,  and  which  carried  on 
the  mystical  and  spiritual  side  of  religion  as 
opposed  to  the  legalistic,  Judaism  dropped 
and  banned  after  its  breach  with  Christianity, 
just  as  it  dropped  and  banned  the  Greek 
translation  of  the  Old  Testament. 

Thereupon  Legalism  became  absolute,  and 
determined  henceforth  the  character  of  Ju- 
daism. Apocalyptic,  which  had  exercised  a 
determining  influence  in  many  of  the  great 
crises  of  the  nation,  and  had  given  birth  to 
and  shaped  the  higher  theology  of  Judaism, 
was  driven  from  its  position  of  secondary 
authority,  and  either  banished  absolutely  or 
relegated  wholly  into  the  background.  Owing 
to  this  fact  Jewish  scholars  like  Jost  and 
Graetz  have  denied  the  great  significance  of 
apocalyptic  in  Judaism.  But  this  blunder 
is  every  day  becoming  more  impossible,  and 
now  we  find  that  Jewish  scholars  like  Butten- 
wieser  (Jewish  Encyc.  i.  676)  maintain  that 
the  courage  and  persistency  of  the  Jews  in 
their  faith,  their  indomitable  hope  under 
persecution,  their  scorn  of  death,  were  all 
nourished  by  apocalyptic  from  the  time  of 
the  Maccabees  down  to  the  thirteenth  century 
a.d.     "  The  darker  the  present  grew  .  .  .  the 


PROPHECY  AND  APOCALYPTIC    45 

more  eagerly  did  their  minds  turn  to  the 
comfort  offered  by  apocalyptic  promises, 
which  predicted  the  end  of  their  suffering 
and  the  dawn  of  their  delivery." 

All  Jewish  apocalypses,  therefore,  from 
200  B.C.  cnwards  were  of  necessity  pseudo- 
nymous, if  they  sought  to  exercise  any  real 
influence  on  the  nation;  for  the  Law  was 
everything,  belief  in  inspiration  was  dead 
amongst  them,  and  the  Canon  was  closed. 

But  with  the  advent  of  Christ  we  enter 
upon  a  new  and  larger  atmosphere  recalling, 
and  yet  far  transcending,  what  had  been 
best  in  the  prophetic  and  apocalyptic  periods 
of  the  past.  Again  the  heavens  had  opened 
and  the  divine  teaching  had  come  to  mankind, 
no  longer  merely  in  books  bearing  the  names 
of  ancient  worthies,  but  on  the  lips  of  living 
men,  who  came  in  person  as  heaven-sent 
messengers  of  God  before  His  people.  Thus 
the  spirit  of  prophecy  descended  afresh  on  the 
faithful,  belief  in  inspiration  awoke  anew, 
and  for  many  generations  no  exclusive  Canon 
of  Christian  writings  was  established.  The 
causes,  therefore,  which  had  necessitated  the 
adoption  of  pseudonymity  in  Judaism,  had  no 
existence  in  the  Christianity  of  the  first  century, 
and  accordingly  there  is  not  a  single  a  priori 
reason  for  regarding  the  New  Testament  Apo- 


46       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

calypse  as  pseudonymous.  Whether  the  John 
who  wrote  the  apocalypse  is  the  Apostle,  or 
some  other  John,  is  a  question  that  cannot 
be  discussed  here.  But  our  immediate  con- 
cern is  to  protest  against  the  uncritical 
readiness  with  which  scholars  in  the  past 
and  present  have  stated  that  pseudonymity 
is  a  universal  characteristic  of  apocalyptic. 
Pseudonymity  is  no  more  a  universal  char- 
acteristic of  apocalyptic  than  it  is  an  essential 
one.  Whether  it  is  pseudonymous  or  not 
depends,  as  we  have  seen,  on  things  external 
to  itself.  In  2  Thess.  ii.  and  1  Cor.  xv.  we 
have  the  Pauline  apocalypse  given  under  its 
author's  name,  and  every  kind  of  evidence 
tends  to  prove  that  the  greatest  of  all  the 
apocalypses  was  written  by  the  prophet  John, 
who  claims  to  have  been  its  author. 

But  in  the  case  of  later  apocalypses,  history 
repeats  itself.  Apocalypses  again  become 
pseudonymous.  Some  are  simply  Christian 
editions  of  Jewish  apocalypses :  others  are 
purely  of  Christian  composition.  The  belief 
in  prophecy  began  to  disappear,  and  in  due 
course  the  Canon  was  closed. 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  47 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   KINGDOM   OF   GOD   IN   APOCALYPTIC 
LITERATURE 

The  kingdom  of  God — what  meaning  are 
we  to  attach  to  this  phrase  ?  According  to 
Dalman  x  this  phrase  means  "  the  sovereignty 
or  rule  of  God  "  in  rabbinic  literature.  Both 
he  and  Edersheim2  maintain  that  this  is  in 
every  instance  the  primary  meaning  of  the 
phrase  in  the  New  Testament.  But  Dalman 
goes  further  and  states  categorically  that  no 
doubt  can  be  entertained  that  both  in  the  Old 
Testament  and  in  Jewish  literature  "  king- 
dom," when  applied  to  God,  means  always 
"  kingly  rule,"  never  the  "  kingdom,"  as  if  it 
were  meant  to  suggest  the  territory  governed 
by  Him.3  It  would  be  rash  to  call  in  question 
Dalman's  authority  as  a  scholar  in  rabbinic 

1  Words  of  Jesus  (translated  from  the  German),  p.  91 
eeqq.  .. 

2  Life  and  Times  of  Jesus  the  Messiah,  i.  270. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  94.  And  yet  Dalman  concedes  that  this 
rejected  meaning  does  in  a  secondary  sense  belong  to 
this  expression.  Thus  (p.  137)  he  writes,  "For  Him 
(Christ)  the  sovereignty  of  God  meant  the  divine  power, 
which  from  the  present  onwards  with  continual  progress 
effectuates  the  renovation  of  the  world,  but  also  the 
renovated  world  into  whose  domain  mankind  will  one 
day  enter." 


48       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

literature,  and  his  ex  cathedra  statements  in 
that  province  may  with  safety  be  accepted 
Few,  however,  will  be  found  to  agree  with 
his  sweeping  statement  as  to  the  meaning  of 
the  expression  "  kingdom  of  God  "  in  the 
New  Testament  and  earlier  Jewish  literature. 
Here,  rather,  while  in  many,  perhaps  in  most, 
of  the  New  Testament  passages  we  may 
admit  his  contention,  in  others  we  must 
maintain  that  the  phrase  "  kingdom  of  God  " 
is  used  eschatologically  and  signifies  "  the 
divine  community  in  which  the  will  of  God 
will  be  perfectly  realised."  This  is  the  sense 
in  which  the  expression  is  to  be  taken  when 
applied  to  apocalyptic  literature,  in  what 
follows.  I  shall  not  delay  further  here  on 
this  subject,  but  merely  add  that  the  expres- 
sion hardly  ever  occurs  in  apocalyptic,  though 
the  thing  itself  is  presupposed.  In  Chapter  III 
the  chief  characteristics  of  the  kingdom  are 
dealt  with. 

From  this  brief  consideration  of  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  this  litera- 
ture, we  pass  on  to  a  like  brief  consideration 
of  the  chief  phases  this  idea  assumed  therein 
from  about  200  B.C.,  or  earlier,  to  the  fall  of 
the  Jewish  State. 

But  in  order  to  know  the  contribution  made 
by  apocalyptic  literature  to  this  conception 


THE   KINGDOM  OF  GOD  49 

we  must  first  of  all  define  this  expectation  as 
it  was  current  in  prophecy.  According  to 
the  prophets  the  kingdom  of  God  was  to 
be  established  on  the  present  earth.  A  few 
passages,  indeed,  in  Isaiah  (lxv.  17,  lxvi.  22) 
speak  of  a  transformation  of  the  earth,  but 
this  transformation  was  not  so  much  of  the 
physical  as  of  the  moral  world  of  man.  The 
kingdom  was  to  be  under  the  immediate  rule 
of  God.  Its  members,  according  to  the  nar- 
rower school  of  the  prophets,  were  to  be  com- 
posed only  of  the  righteous  Israelites  who 
had  survived  its  advent :  but,  according  to 
the  larger  hearted  prophets,  the  righteous  in 
Israel  were  to  form  the  centre  of  the  kingdom, 
and  the  Gentiles  were  to  be  brought  into  it 
by  conversion.  Its  blessings  were  to  be  at 
once  spiritual  and  material.  The  kingdom 
was  to  endure  for  everlasting,  but  its  members 
were  not  to  enjoy  immortality  but  lives  of 
patriarchal  duration. 

This  is  the  kingdom  according  to  the 
prophets.  Now  the  importance  of  apocalyptic 
may  be  gauged  from  the  fact  that  every 
subsequent  development  of  this  conception, 
till  it  is  reborn  in  Christianity,  is  due  to 
apocalyptic  literature.  In  order  to  make  clear 
the  various  changes  which  this  conception 
underwent  during  this  period,  we  shall  first 


50       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

of  all  enumerate  the  books  or  passages  which 
represent  the  first  stage,  and  next,  eschewing 
detail,  sketch  in  barest  outline  the  doctrine 
they  present.  The  books  in  question  are 
Isaiah  xxvi.  1-1 9, x  Daniel,  1  Enoch  xxi.- 
xxxvi.,  lxxxiii.-xc. ;  Test.  XII.  Patriarchs, 
Jubilees — in  other  words,  the  apocalyptic 
works  of  the  second  century  B.C. 

The  first  stage  of  apocalyptic  represents 
the  synthesis  of  the  two  eschatologies  of  the 
individual  and  of  the  nation.  The  eschat- 
ology  of  the  individual  dealt  with  his  future 
destinies  as  an  individual.  Down  to  the 
fourth  century  or  later  the  individual  in 
Judaism  had  no  higher  expectation  than  an 
unending  existence  in  Sheol,  where  social 
and  national  distinctions  prevailed  but  not 
moral;  for  good  and  bad  fared  exactly  alike. 
Finally,  however,  the  hope  of  the  individual 
was  raised  through  the  experience  of  personal 
communion  with  God,  such  as  we  meet  with 
in  Job  and  certain  of  the  Psalms,  into  belief 

1  This  section  occurs  as  an  addition  to  the  notable 
Apocalypse  xxiv.-xxvii.  1,  12,  13.  According  to  Old 
Testament  scholars  this  Apocalypse  was  written  subse- 
quently to  the  Second  Isaiah.  Kuenen,  Cheyne  and 
Smend  assign  it  on  various  grounds  to  the  fourth 
century  (see  Driver,  Introduction  to  Old  Testament  Litera- 
ture, 219  seqq.),  Duhm  and  Marti  to  the  second.  With 
the  last-named  I  feel  constrained  on  many  grounds  to 
agree. 


THE   KINGDOM  OF  GOD  51 

in  a  blessed  immortality.  The  eschatology 
of  the  nation  dealt  with  the  future  destinies  of 
the  nation  as  a  whole :  its  expectation  was 
from  the  first  fixed  on  God's  intervention 
on  behalf  of  His  own  people,  and  this  expecta- 
tion gradually  developed  into  belief  in  the 
Messianic  kingdom  or  the  kingdom  of  God. 
Down  to  the  Exile  these  two  developments 
pursued  an  independent  course,  but  from 
the  Exile  onwards  they  began  to  exert  an 
influence  on  each  other.  This  mutual  inter- 
action, however,  did  not  lead  to  any  true 
synthesis  till  the  third  century  or  even  the 
beginning  of  the  second,  when  they  were 
both  seen  to  be  complementary  sides  of  one 
and  the  same  religious  doctrine,  namely,  the 
doctrine  of  the  resurrection,  which  subsumes 
and  does  justice  to  the  essential  claims  of 
both.  Thus  when  the  belief  in  the  blessed 
immortality  of  the  faithful  is  connected  with 
that  of  the  coming  Messianic  kingdom,  the 
separate  eschatologies  of  the  individual  and 
of  the  nation  issue  finally  in  their  synthesis  : 
in  other  words,  we  arrive  at  the  doctrine  of 
the  resurrection  of  the  righteous;  for  the 
righteous  dead  of  Israel  are  to  rise  to  share 
in  the  kingdom.  Thus  the  righteous  individual 
and  the  righteous  nation  should  be  blessed 
together — or  rather  the  righteous  individual 


52       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

should  ultimately  be  recompensed — not  with 
a  solitary  immortality  in  heaven  or  elsewhere 
but — with  a  blessed  resurrection  life  together 
with  his  brethren  in  the  coming  Messianic 
kingdom.  The  obvious  lesson  of  such  a 
development  was  that  the  individual  was  not 
to  be  blessed  apart  from  his  brethren  ;  for  that 
his  blessedness,  his  highest  well-being  was 
impossible  of  realisation  except  through  the 
common  life. 

Thus  conceived,  the  doctrine  of  the  resur- 
rection is  a  genuine  product  of  Jewish  inspira- 
tion; for  all  its  factors  are  indigenous  to  the 
thought  and  religious  experience  of  Judaism.1 

Whether  this  completed  doctrine  is  earlier 
than  the  second  century  is  a  debatable 
question;  but,  however  this  may  be,  the 
entire  literature,  or  almost  the  entire  literature 
that  attests  its  existence  belongs  to  this 
century.  In  order  to  encourage  the  faithful 
under  the  savage  persecution  of  Antiochus, 
religious  thinkers  of  the  period  consolidated 
and  developed  into  more  or  less  consistent 
theodicies  the  products  of  present  and  past 
inspiration.  While  their  contemporary,  the 
author  of  Sirach,  was  proclaiming  that  Sheol 
was  outside  the  sphere  of  moral  government; 
and  that 
1  This  subject  is  dealt  with  at  some  length  in  chap.  iv. 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  53 

"  Whether  it  be  for  a  thousand  years,  for  a 
hundred  or  for  ten, 
In  Sheol  there  are  no  corrections  of  life  " 

(xli.  4),i 

these  writers  insisted  most  strongly  on  the 
fact  of  retribution  in  the  next  life,  and  that 
the  essential  distinctions  now  existing  between 
the  righteous  and  the  wicked  must  one  day 
be  outwardly  realised.  Hence,  all  with  one 
accord  proclaim  the  certainty  of  judgment 
on  the  Advent  of  the  Messianic  kingdom, 
while  some  go  so  far  as  to  teach  that  imme- 
diately after  death  men  enter  into  a  state  of 
bliss  or  woe  in  Sheol,  which  is  but  the  prelude 
to  their  final  destiny.  The  righteous  as  a 
whole,  both  quick  and  dead  (1  Enoch  1L, 
lxxxiii.-xc. ;  Test.  XII.  Patriarchs),  or  only 
the  martyred  righteous  (Isa.  xxvi.  19  ( ? ) ; 
Dan.  xii.  1,  2),  were  to  be  recompensed  to  the 
full  in  the  eternal  Messianic  kingdom,  and  the 
blessed  future  of  the  righteous  individual  and 
the  righteous  nation  were  to  be  consum- 
mated together.  Our  authorities  differ  as  to 
the  mode  in  which  the  kingdom  was  to  be 

1  It  is  not  astonishing  that  this  book  was  subsequently 
placed  on  the  Index  Expurgatorius  (see  Talmud,  Sank. 
100  6).  On  the  other  hand,  its  very  fine  ethical  teaching 
on  forgiveness,  almsgiving  and  other  duties,  procured 
its  admission  into  the  leotionary  of  the  early  Christian 
Church. 


54       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

ushered  in.  Some  held  that  it  was  to  be 
introduced  suddenly  and  catastrophically  by 
God  Himself  (Daniel,  1  Enoch  lxxxiii.-xc), 
others  that  there  was  to  be  a  gradual  renewal 
of  creation,  introduced  pari  passu  with  the 
spiritual  transformation  of  man  (Isa.  lxv.- 
lxvi. ;  Jub.  iv.  26,  xxiii.  26-28).  The  nature 
and  length  of  the  life  of  the  members  of  the 
kingdom  are  in  certain  cases  difficult  to  deter- 
mine. According  to  1  Enoch  i.-xxxvi.  the 
righteous  are  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  life  and  live 
as  long  as  the  patriarchs  of  old,  and  beget 
1000  children  and  have  unnumbered  material 
blessings.  It  is  not  improbable  that  all  the 
authorities  of  this  period  held  similar  sensuous 
conceptions  of  the  Messianic  time;  for  after 
all  these  were  derived  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, the  ideal  of  which  was  a  life  of  perfect 
righteousness  combined  with  perfect  physical 
enjoyment— in  other  words,  the  complete 
realisation  of  the  entire  man  constituted  as 
he  is  in  this  life.  The  prevailing  view  as  to 
the  comprehensiveness  of  the  kingdom  was 
that  of  the  larger  hearted  prophets  of  the  Old 
Testament.  Jubilees  alone  represents  the 
narrow  Jewish  Particularism,  which  excludes 
all  Gentiles  from  the  kingdom,  following 
herein  the  school  of  Ezekiel.  So  bitterly  did 
the  circle  represented  by  the  writer  of  Jubilees 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  55 

hate  the  Gentiles,  that  he  declares  that  it  is 
written  in  the  statute  book  of  heaven,  that 
any  Israelite  that  gave  his  daughter  in  marriage 
to  a  Gentile  would  perish  for  ever.  But  Jubi- 
lees here  belongs  more  to  the  first  century  b.c. 
than  to  the  second. 

The  last  notable  fact  that  calls  for  attention 
in  this  period  is  the  all  but  universal  absence 
from  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah  descended 
from  Judah.  Thus  there  is  not  a  single  refer- 
ence to  him  to  be  found  in  Isa.  xxiv.- 
xxvii. ;  Daniel ;  1  Enoch  i.-xxxvi.,  and  only  one 
bare  allusion  in  Jubilees.  In  1  Enoch  lxxxiii.- 
xc.  alone  is  there  a  statement  regarding  the 
Messiah,  but  it  is  of  little  significance,  since 
no  function  is  assigned  to  him,  and  the  passage 
seems  to  be  due  to  literary  reminiscence.1 

It  is  in  part  no  doubt  the  almost  total 
disappearance  of  this  hope  of  the  Messiah 
from  Judah,  that  made  possible  a  most 
remarkable  though  temporary  revolution  in 
Jewish  belief,  which  we  find  alluded  to  in  the 
Testaments  of  the  XII.  Patriarchs.  This  book 
proclaims  the  coming  of  a  Messiah  not  from 
Judah,  but  from  Levi.  This  novel  expecta- 
tion was  due  to  the  descent  of  the  great 
Maccabean  family  from  Levi.  All  that  is 
noble  and  memorable  in  the  Jewish  history 

1  This  subject  is  more  fully  dealt  with  in  chap.  iii. 


56        RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

of  this  period  is  connected  directly  or  indi- 
rectly with  this  family,  and  it  is  not  a  matter 
of  surprise  that  the  zealous  Jews  who  were 
anxiously  awaiting  the  advent  of  the  king- 
dom, thought  that  it  was  to  be  introduced  by 
the  Maccabees,  or  even  that  the  Messiah 
himself  was  to  spring  from  this  family.  This 
expectation  is  voiced  in  a  noble  Messianic 
hymn  in  the  Testament  of  Levi,  and  the  same 
expectation  appears  to  lie  at  the  base  of 
Psalm  ex.,  which  is  addressed,  according  to 
Duhm,  Bickell  and  other  scholars,  to  Simon 
the  Maccabee,  and  indeed  forms  an  acrostic 
on  Simon's  name. 

We  must  soon  pass  from  the  beliefs  of  the 
second  century  to  its  successor,  but  we  should 
first  observe  that  though  in  most  questions 
the  synthesis  of  the  eschatologies  of  the 
nation  and  the  individual  continues  unques- 
tioned, there  are  not  wanting  signs  of  its 
approaching  resolution  into  its  original  fac- 
tors, in  order  that  they  may  again  pursue 
their  separate  lines  of  development  until, 
attaining  their  full-grown  stature,  they  may 
coalesce  in  a  final  and  complete  synthesis. 
One  notable  sign  of  this  approaching  resolu- 
tion is  to  be  seen  in  the  fact  that  the  writer 
of  1  Enoch  lxxxiii.-xc.  has  become  conscious 
that  the  earth,  however  purged  and  purified, 


THE   KINGDOM  OF   GOD  57 

is  no  fitting  scene  for  an  eternal  kingdom. 
If  the  Messianic  kingdom  is  to  be  of  eternal 
duration  and  God  is  to  be  present  with  man, 
then  His  habitation  and  that  of  the  blessed 
must  be  built  not  of  things  earthly  and  cor- 
ruptible, but  of  things  heavenly  and  incor- 
ruptible. Hence  this  writer  represents  the 
creation  of  a  heavenly  Jerusalem  in  place  of 
the  earthly  as  the  centre  of  the  kingdom. 
This  view  clearly  springs  from  the  dualism 
that  was  making  itself  increasingly  felt  in 
Judaism. 

As  we  pass  from  the  second  century  B.C. 
to  the  first  we  become  conscious  of  a  great 
gulf  dividing  the  eschatologies  of  the  two 
centuries.  The  chief  authorities  for  this 
century  are  1  Enoch  xci.-civ.,  xxxvii.-lxxi. ; 
1  Maccabees,  Pss.  Solomon,  Book  of  Wisdom. 
In  this  literature  the  hope  of  an  eternal  king- 
dom of  God  on  the  present  earthy  which  had 
been  taught  by  the  Old  Testament  prophets 
and  the  apocalyptic  literature  of  the  past,  is 
now,  except  in  one  work,  absolutely  abandoned 
for  ever.  The  earth  unchanged,  untrans- 
formed,  has  now  come  to  be  regarded  as 
wholly  unfit  for  the  manifestation  of  this 
kingdom.  Thus  the  dualism  which  had  begun 
to  affect  the  forecasts  of  religious  thinkers 
in  the  preceding  century  has  in  this  century 


58       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

leavened  their  expectations  as  a  whole.  The 
doctrine  of  the  divine  immanence  has  given 
place  to  that  of  the  divine  transcendence, 
and  the  time-honoured  hope  of  an  eternal 
Messianic  kingdom,  which  should  abide  for 
ever  on  earth  ruled  and  sustained  by  the 
immediate  present  Deity,  has  been  sorrow- 
fully abandoned  by  the  Jews  of  this  later  age, 
save  in  the  case  of  the  Parables  of  Enoch. 

Henceforward  the  Messianic  kingdom  is  only 
conceived  as  of  temporary  duration,  and  thus 
ceases  to  be  identical  with  the  kingdom  of 
God.  At  best  it  can  only  be  regarded  as  a 
partial  and  temporary  manifestation  of  it. 
This  revolutionary  conception  led  perforce 
to  others.  So  long  as  the  Messianic  kingdom 
was  held  to  be  eternal  in  duration,  its  advent 
was  of  necessity  preceded  or  accompanied 
by  the  final  judgment,  and  it  was  to  share  in 
this  kingdom  that  the  righteous  dead  were 
raised;  but  when  this  hope  was  abandoned, 
the  resurrection  and  the  final  judgment  were 
adjourned  to  its  close.  A  temporary  earthly 
Messianic  kingdom  could  not  be  the  goal  of 
the  risen  righteous,  their  faith  could  find 
satisfaction  only  in  a  blessed  immortality  in 
heaven  itself.  In  the  thoughts  of  these 
writers  the  belief  in  a  personal  immortality 
had  thus  detached  itself  from  the  doctrine 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  59 

of  the  earthly  Messianic  kingdom,  and  the 
synthesis  of  the  two  eschatologies  is  resolved 
into  its  elements,  never  again  save  once 
(1  Enoch  xxxvii.-lxx.)  to  be  spiritually  fused 
together  in  the  sphere  of  pre-Christian  Judaism. 
In  most  of  the  writings  of  this  period  the 
resurrection  is  not  a  resurrection  of  the  spirit 
and  body,  but  of  the  spirit  only.  This  follows 
naturally  from  the  changed  conception  of 
the  Messianic  kingdom.  Men  rose  not  to 
this  kingdom,  but  to  share  in  heaven  itself. 
But  a  remarkable  phenomenon  meets  us  in 
the  literature  of  this  century  in  the  Parables 
of  Enoch,  which  form  an  independent  book 
written  probably  before  64  B.C.  This  very 
original  work  lies  outside  the  general  line  of 
development.  Its  author  pursues  a  path  of 
his  own.  The  present  earth  could  not,  he 
held,  be  regarded  as  the  scene  of  the  eternal 
kingdom,  no  more  indeed  could  the  present 
heaven ;  its  only  fitting  scene  could  be  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth.  In  this  new  heaven 
and  new  earth,  forming  one  new  and  indivisible 
kingdom,  the  righteous  should  have  their 
mansions  differing  in  glory  according  to  their 
deserts.  Since  this  kingdom  was  for  ever- 
lasting the  resurrection  and  final  judgment 
would,  of  course,  take  place  before  its  advent. 
This  writer  has  thus  united  for  the  last  time 


60       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

in  Judaism  the  severed  eschatologies  of  the 
individual  and  the  nation. 

Of  no  less  startling  character  is  the  con- 
ception entertained  of  the  coming  Messiah, 
who  is  here  for  the  first  time  designated  as  the 
Son  of  Man.  This  conception  is  unique  in 
Judaism.  The  way,  of  course,  had  in  some 
measure  been  prepared.  The  phrase  "  a  son 
of  man  "  had  already  appeared  in  the  Book 
of  Daniel,  but  there  it  merely  served  to 
symbolise  Israel  as  distinguished  from  the 
preceding  world  empires,  which  were  repre- 
sented by  various  beasts.  Now,  though  it 
must  be  at  once  conceded  that  this  phrase 
"  a  son  of  man  "  had  no  Messianic  significance 
in  the  mind  of  the  writer  of  Daniel,  it  could 
hardly  fail  to  acquire  it  in  the  course  of  time. 
For  it  is  a  general  rule  in  apocalyptic  visions 
that  angels,  individual  men  and  nations  are 
not  described  as  such,  but  are  referred  to 
under  certain  symbols.  Thus  in  the  most 
extensive  piece  of  writing  that  we  have  of 
this  nature  (1  Enoch  lxxxiii.-xc.)  Abraham 
and  Isaac  are  represented  by  white  bulls,  the 
righteous  Israelites  by  white  sheep,  the 
apostates  by  black  sheep,  the  Egyptians  by 
wolves,  the  Philistines  by  dogs,  the  Edomites 
by  wild  boars,  but  an  angel  is  always  spoken 
of  as  a  man.    Thus  when  a  being  in  a  symbolic 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  61 

apocalyptic  vision  is  represented  as  a  man, 
we  may  a  priori  assume  that  the  being  in 
question  is  of  heavenly  origin,  though  we  may 
find  on  examination  subsequently,  that  the 
context  makes  this  interpretation  impossible 
in  exceptional  instances.  But  the  claims  of 
the  context  never  proved  an  obstacle  to  Jewish 
interpreters,  nor  indeed  to  the  vast  majority 
of  Christian.  Hence  Daniel  vii.  13 — "I  saw 
in  the  night-visions,  and  behold  there  came 
with  the  clouds  of  heaven  one  like  unto  a  son 
of  man,  and  he  came  to  the  Ancient  of  Days  " 
— was  from  the  first  century  B.C.  onward 
interpreted  messianically ;  for  the  being  in 
such  a  vision  would  naturally  be  conceived 
as  angelic  or  superhuman.  The  New  Testa- 
ment references  to  it  as  such  are  numerous, 
but  the  earliest  historical  interpretation  in 
a  Messianic  light  is  that  given  in  the  Parables 
of  Enoch. 

Thus  from  the  standpoint  of  apocalyptic 
interpretation  we  are  prepared  to  find  in 
the  Son  of  Man  in  Enoch  a  being  of  super- 
human origin.  The  growing  dualism  of  the 
time  likewise  prepared  the  way  for  such  a 
conception.  The  further  God  was  removed 
from  man,  the  more  necessary  it  became  to 
fill  up  the  gulf  between  God  and  man.  We 
must  not,   however,   dwell   further   on   this 


62       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

subject  here,  as  it  is  specially  dealt  with 
elsewhere  (see  chap.  iii.). 

We  must  now  close  this  study  with  a  brief 
outline  of  the  character  of  the  Messianic 
kingdom  in  the  first  century  of  the  Christian 
era.  The  authorities  for  this  period  are  the 
Assumption  of  Moses,  Philo,  2  Enoch,  4  Mac- 
cabees, 1  Baruch,  4  Ezra,  Sibylline  Oracles 
iv.,  Josephus. 

The  growth  of  dualism,  which  was  so 
vigorous  in  the  preceding  century,  attains 
in  this  to  its  final  development.  Not'  only 
has  the  thought  of  the  eternal  Messianic 
kingdom  passed  absolutely  from  the  minds 
of  men,  but  even  the  hope  of  a  temporary 
Messianic  kingdom  is  abandoned  by  many 
apocalyptic  writers.  From  temporary  mani- 
festations of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth, 
the  thoughts  of  religious  men  have  passed 
to  the  supramundane  abode  of  God,  even  to 
heaven  itself.  In  some  books  which  still 
cling  to  the  Messianic  hope  the  actual  dura- 
tion of  the  temporary  kingdom  is  defined. 
According  to  4  Ezra  it  was  to  last  400  years 
(vii.  28,  29),  and,  as  a  special  privilege,  the 
martyrs,  or  at  all  events  certain  uniquely 
righteous  men  (cf.  Dan.  xii.  1,  2),  were  to 
rise  to  share  in  it.  Thus  we  arrive  at  the 
doctrine  of  the  first  resurrection  as  it  appears 


THE   KINGDOM   OF   GOD  63 

in  the  New  Testament  Apocalypse  (xx.  4), 
where  the  Christian  martyrs  rise  to  reign 
with  Christ  for  1000  years. 

The  breach  which  had  set  in  between  the 
eschatologies  of  the  individual  and  of  the 
nation  in  the  preceding  century  has  still 
further  widened  in  this.  Either  the  nation 
has  no  blessed  future  at  all  or  at  best  only 
one  of  temporary  duration.  On  the  loss  of 
this  national  hope  extreme  individualism  in 
religion  follows.  The  interest  of  the  individual 
is  centred  wholly  on  his  own  lot  in  the  after 
life.  To  that  life  he  rises  purely  as  a  spirit, 
or  as  a  spirit  clothed  in  the  glory  of  God,  or, 
if  his  earthly  body  rises,  it  is  only  for  purposes 
of  mutual  recognition,  after  which  trans- 
formation is  at  once  to  follow  into  the  nature 
of  the  angels.  But  this  religious  individual- 
ism leads  to  a  further  development  in  regard 
to  the  resurrection  of  the  spirit.  Heretofore 
the  righteous  spirit  did  not  rise  from  its 
intermediate  abode  in  Sheol  till  after  the  final 
judgment,  but  now  several  writers  such  as 
Philo,  and  the  authors  of  the  Book  of  Wisdom 
(first  century  B.C.),  and  4  Maccabees  regard 
the  righteous  as  entering  on  the  blessed 
immortality  immediately  after  death.  But 
no  Palestinian  Pharisee  supported  this  view 
so  far  as  I  can  discover,  and  we  may  on  good 


64       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

grounds  conclude  that  the  tradition  of  Pales- 
tinian Judaism  always  taught  the  doctrine 
of  an  intermediate  abode  for  the  righteous — 
perhaps  for  all  souls.  While  Alexandrian 
Judaism  made  death  the  absolute  end  of 
man's  probation,  and  represented  the  soul  as 
at  once  entering  on  its  eternal  and  un- 
changeable destiny  of  good  or  evil,  Palestinian 
Judaism,  by  holding  fast  to  the  doctrine  of 
an  intermediate  state,  left  open  the  possi- 
bilities of  further  moral  development  in  the 
spirits  of  the  departed,  and  thus  made  feasible 
the  achievement  of  more  ethical  conceptions 
in  this  province. 

CHAPTER  III 

THE   MESSIAH   IN   PROPHECY   AND 
APOCALYPTIC 

If  we  would  understand  Jewish  Messianic 
prophecy  in  relation  to  its  fulfilment  in  the 
New  Testament,  we  must  study  first  the 
Messianic  kingdom  or  the  kingdom  of  God, 
as  foreshadowed  in  that  prophecy,  and  next 
the  characteristics  of  the  expected  Messiah. 
The  subject  is  immense :  we  must  therefore 
confine  ourselves  to  the  salient  characteristics 
of  each  conception. 


THE  MESSIAH  65 

First,  then,  the  expected  kingdom.  In 
pre-prophetic  times  this  expectation,  so  far 
as  we  can  discover,  was  fixed  on  the  future 
national  blessedness,  that  was  to  be  intro- 
duced by  the  day  of  Yahweh.  According  to 
the  popular  conception  which  was  current 
down  to  the  eighth  century  and  later,  this 
golden  age  was  to  be  merely  a  period  of 
material  and  unbroken  prosperity,  which  the 
nation  was  to  enjoy  when  Yahweh  over- 
threw Israel's  national  enemies.  In  this  pre- 
prophetic  period  monotheism  was  non-existent 
in  Israel.  Israel  had  its  own  deity,  Yahweh, 
just  as  the  neighbouring  nations  had  their 
own  deities,  and  Israel  questioned  the  exist- 
ence of  the  latter  just  as  little  as  that  of  the 
former.  Originally  the  sovereignty  of  Yahweh 
was  conceived  as  conterminous  with  His  own 
land  and  His  own  people,  and  His  interests 
as  absolutely  identical  with  those  of  Israel. 
Though  Yahweh  might  become  temporarily 
estranged,  He  could  never  forsake  His  people, 
and  to  them  were  confined  all  His  redemptive 
acts  and  gracious  purposes.  This  very  ancient 
view  of  Yahweh  was  still  the  popular  one  in 
Israel  in  the  eighth  century,  as  we  learn  from 
the  Prophet  Amos.  But  this  low  nationalistic 
conception  of  God  was  overthrown  by  the 
monotheistic    teaching    of   the   great   eighth 

a 


66        RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

century  prophets.  Yahweh,  they  taught,  was 
the  God  of  all  the  earth  and  there  was  no  God 
beside  Him.  As  such  all  nations  were  His, 
and  they  no  less  than  Israel  were  the  subjects 
of  His  judgments  and  His  redemptive  purposes. 
Yet  the  old  nationalistic  claims,  that  Yahweh 
considered  Israel  only,  survived  side  by  side 
with  the  prophetic  monotheism,  which  logic- 
ally rendered  them  nugatory  and  anachronistic, 
and  of  these  claims  even  some  of  the  prophets 
made  themselves  the  mouthpiece. 

Thus  we  come  to  distinguish  two  lines  of 
prophetical  succession  in  Israel.  The  first 
is  that  which  frankly  accepts  monotheism 
with  the  universalism  that  naturally  flows 
from  it,  that  is,  the  inclusion  of  the  Gentiles 
within  the  sphere  of  divine  judgment  and 
divine  blessing.  The  second  is  that  which 
accepts  monotheism  yet  illogically  excludes 
either  wholly  or  in  part  the  Gentiles  from 
God's  care  and  love,  and  limits  His  gracious 
purposes  to  Israel  alone. 

Of  the  former  attitude,  Jeremiah  may  be 
taken  as  the  typical  exponent :  of  the  latter, 
Ezekiel;  and  thus  these  two  great  prophets 
of  the  exile  may  be  regarded  respectively  as 
the  spiritual  forerunners  of  Christianity  and 
Judaism. 

But  abandoning  for  the  present  the  con- 


THE   MESSIAH  67 

sideration  of  this  radical  difference  in  the 
Hebrew  prophets,  let  us  turn  to  those  ex- 
pectations in  which  they  were  agreed.  The 
chief  of  these,  we  find,  was  the  establishment 
of  God's  actual  reign  on  earth.  All  or  nearly 
all  the  pre-Exilic  prophets  teach  the  advent 
sooner  or  later  of  this  kingdom.  It  was, 
they  universally  agreed,  to  be  introduced  by 
a  national  judgment — collective  judgment  for 
collective  guilt — limited  in  its  scope  according 
to  earlier  prophecy,  but  worldwide  accord- 
ing to  the  prophets  of  the  seventh  century 
and  onwards.  Over  this  kingdom  either  God 
Himself  was  to  reign  or  the  Messiah.  This 
kingdom  itself  was  to  last  for  ever  and  its 
scene  was  to  be  the  present  earth,  according 
to  pre-Exilic  prophecy. 

With  the  two  great  prophets  of  the  Exile 
the  Messianic  expectation  enters  on  a  fresh 
stage  of  devlopment.  Before  the  Exile  the 
nation  was  the  religious  unit,  and  the  indi- 
vidual as  such  had  no  religious  worth  and 
could  not  approach  God  except  through  priest 
or  prophet.  But  with  the  deportation  of  the 
nation  to  Babylon  and  the  overthrow  of  the 
temple  and  its  settled  order  of  priests  and 
sacrifices,  the  individual  came  of  necessity 
into  direct  and  immediate  relation  with  God, 
and  henceforth  constituted  the  religious  unit. 


68       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

Man  must  stand  face  to  face  with  God :  God's 
law  must  be  written  on  man's  heart.  The 
new  teaching  thus  proclaimed  to  a  certain 
degree  a  kingdom  of  God  within  man.  This 
kingdom  within  man  was  not  indeed  to  be  a 
substitute  for  the  Messianic  kingdom,  but  a 
preparation.  The  spiritual  transformation  of 
Israel,  individual  by  individual,  became  hence- 
forth an  indispensable  condition  for  entrance 
into  the  coming  kingdom  of  God.  On  this 
condition  of  entrance  into  the  kingdom  all 
post-Exilic  prophets  are  at  one,  but,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  they  were  utterly  at  variance 
as  to  the  destined  comprehensiveness  of  the 
kingdom. 

Jeremiah  held  that  it  was  to  embrace  all 
the  Gentiles,  who  should  enter  it  by  con- 
version :  Ezekiel  and  his  successors  that 
even  those  Gentiles  who  survived  the  judg- 
ment were  to  be  excluded  from  it  for  ever. 
Thus  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel  founded  or  rather 
refounded  two  very  diverse  schools  of  develop- 
ment. Jeremiah  taught  universalism,  that 
is,  that  God's  gracious  purposes  embraced  all 
mankind,  and  that  Zion  was  to  be  the  spiritual 
mother  of  the  nations  :  Ezekiel  taught  par- 
ticularism, that  is,  that  the  Jews  only  were  the 
objects  of  God's  love.  Thus  in  this  other- 
wise noble  prophet  of  the  Exile,  the  heathen- 


THE  MESSIAH  69 

ism  of  primitive  Israel  survives  so  far  as  to 
represent  God's  attitude  to  the  Gentiles  as 
that  of  an  omnipotent  and  merciless  deity. 

This  view  of  Ezekiel  tends  at  first  sight  to 
shock  the  reader;  but  he  soon  comes  to  con- 
done it,  when  he  reflects  that  Ezekiel's 
heathenism  in  this  respect  is  as  nothing  com- 
pared with  the  inexpugnable  heathenism  of 
one  great  branch  of  the  Christian  Church 
which  would  exclude  from  the  kingdom  of 
God  on  earth  not  heathen  communities  as 
did  Ezekiel,  but  Churches  of  Christ  no  less 
but  rather  more  Christian  than  itself;  and 
whereas  Ezekiel's  ostracism  of  the  non- 
Israelite  was  limited  to  this  life  only,  the 
Latin  Church  would  condemn  to  eternal 
destruction  the  members  of  other  Churches 
of  Christ,  which  are  no  less  fruitful  than 
itself  in  good  works  and  are  immeasurably 
richer  in  knowledge  and  wisdom. 

But  to  return.  Let  us  emphasise  the  three 
chief  notes  of  the  kingdom  enunciated  in  the 
prophetic  school  of  Jeremiah  and  his  suc- 
cessors : 

First,  the  kingdom  was  to  be  within  man : 
religion  was  to  be  individualised  :  God's  law 
to  be  written  on  man's  heart  (Jer.  xxxi.  31- 
33) :  man's  soul  was  to  be  the  dwelling-place 
of  the  Most  High  :  "  Thus  saith  the  high  and 


70       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

holy  One  that  inhabiteth  eternity,  whose 
name  is  holy  :  I  dwell  in  the  high  and  holy 
place  with  him  that  is  of  a  contrite  and 
humble  spirit  "  (Isa.  lvii.  15). 

Secondly,  the  kingdom  was  to  be  world- 
wide, embracing  all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

It  is  now  our  task  to  trace  the  development 
of  the  third  note  of  the  kingdom.  Hitherto 
prophecy  had  looked  forward  to  the  present 
earth  as  the  scene  of  the  Messianic  kingdom, 
but  about  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  a 
new  view  appears  on  the  horizon  in  Isaiah 
lxv.-lxvi.,  for  which  the  past  indeed  had  made 
some  preparation.  Not  the  earth  in  its  pre- 
sent condition,  this  later  prophet  declares, 
but  a  transformed  heaven  and  earth  were  to 
be  the  scene  of  the  kingdom.  If  the  tradi- 
tional text  is  correct,  this  transformation  was 
not  to  take  place  instantaneously  and  catastro- 
phically,  but  gradually,  advancing  pari  passu 
with  the  spiritual  transformation  of  man.  In 
the  course  of  this  spiritual  and  physical 
transformation  the  wicked  were  apparently 
to  be  gradually  eliminated  from  the  com- 
munity. The  righteous  were  to  attain  the 
full  limit  of  their  years — no  doubt  1000 — 
and  the  sinner  was  to  be  cut  off  prematurely 
at  the  age  of  100.  This  peculiar  view  reappears 
but  twice  more  in  Judaism  in  the  Book  of 


THE  MESSIAH  71 

Jubilees,  and  the  Testaments  of  the  Twelve 
Patriarchs,  which  belong  to  the  second 
century  B.C.;  but  though  it  did  not  hold  its 
ground  it  prepared  the  way  for  the  next 
and  final  form  of  this  eschatological  hope, 
which  furnishes  the  third  chief  note  of  the 
kingdom.  This  final  form  arose  about  the 
close  of  the  second  century  B.C.,  when  in  the 
growing  dualism  of  the  times  it  was  borne 
in  alike  on  saint  and  sage  that  this  present 
world  could  never  be  the  scene  of  the  eternal 
Messianic  kingdom,  and  that  such  a  kingdom 
demanded  not  merely  a  new  heaven  and  a 
new  earth  akin  in  character  to  the  old,  but  a 
new  and  spiritual  heaven  and  earth,  into  which 
flesh  and  blood  could  not  find  an  entrance. 
Here  at  length  we  have  arrived  at  the  third 
note  of  the  kingdom.  The  eternal  Messianic 
kingdom  can  attain  its  consummation  only  in 
the  world  to  come,  into  which  the  righteous 
should  enter  through  the  gate  of  resurrection. 
To  recapitulate  :  we  have  now  the  three 
chief  notes  of  the  coming  kingdom  of  God. 
First,  this  kingdom  was  to  be  a  kingdom 
within  man — and  so  far  to  be  a  kingdom 
realised  on  earth.  Secondly,  it  was  to  be 
worldwide  and  to  ignore  every  limitation  of 
language  and  race.  Thirdly,  it  was  to  find 
its  true  consummation  in  the  world  to  come. 


72       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  New  Testament 
and  inquire  if  the  kingdom  introduced  by 
our  Lord  possesses  the  three  notes  of  Old 
Testament  prophecy  and  apocalyptic.  The 
matter  can  be  dispatched  in  a  few  words; 
for  these  three  notes  summarise  in  the  shortest 
possible  way  the  actual  characteristics  of 
the  kingdom  established  by  Christ.  Thus 
in  answer  to  the  Pharisees  asking  when  the 
kingdom  of  God  should  come,  our  Lord 
declares  :  "  The  kingdom  of  God  cometh  not 
with  observation :  neither  shall  they  say, 
Lo,  here !  or,  There  !  for  lo  !  the  kingdom  of 
God  is  within  you "  (Luke  xvii.  20,  21). 
Again,  Christ's  kingdom  is  universal.  "  The 
kingdom  of  God,"  declares  our  Lord,  speaking 
to  the  Jews,  "  shall  be  taken  away  from  you, 
and  shall  be  given  to  a  nation  bringing  forth 
the  fruits  thereof  "  (Matt.  xxi.  43) ;  and  "  Many 
shall  come  from  the  east  and  from  the  west, 
and  shall  sit  down  with  Abraham  and  Isaac 
and  Jacob  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  :  but 
the  sons  of  the  kingdom  shall  be  cast  .into 
outer  darkness  "  (Matt.  viii.  11,  12).  Else- 
where in  the  Parable  of  the  Sower  He  states 
that  "  the  field,"  that  is,  the  scene  of  the 
kingdom's  activity,  "  is  the  world  "  (Matt, 
xiii.  38).  This  second  note  of  the  kingdom 
follows  naturally  from  the  first.     If  character 


THE  MESSIAH  73 

is  the  sole  qualification  for  admission  into  the 
kingdom,  then,  wherever  that  character  is 
found,  there  the  kingdom  of  God  is  already 
actually  present.  Finally,  it  was  to  be  con- 
summated in  the  risen  life.  "  The  Son  of 
Man  shall  send  His  angels,  and  they  shall 
gather  out  of  His  kingdom  all  things  that 
offend  and  them  that  do  iniquity.  .  .  .  Then 
shall  the  righteous  shine  forth  as  the  sun  in 
the  kingdom  of  their  Father  "  (Matt.  xxii. 
41).  This  is  the  kingdom  of  God  come 
"  with  power,"  as  St.  Mark  (ix.  1)  describes  it. 

We  thus  see  that  the  kingdom  established 
by  Christ  corresponds  in  its  deepest  aspects 
to  that  foreshadowed  in  the  prophetic  and 
apocalyptic  writers.  It  embodies  the  per- 
manent elements  in  the  past  development 
and  fuses  them  into  one  organic  whole. 

Not  so,  however,  with  Judaism.  Still 
clinging  to  their  claim  to  be  the  only  true 
Church  of  God,  the  Jews  could  not  accept  the 
universalism  of  the  greater  prophets  or  this 
universalism  as  embodied  in  the  teaching  of 
Christ.  God  was  the  God  of  the  Jews  only, 
they  held,  and  of  the  Gentiles  only  so  far  as 
they  were  admitted  to  Judaism.  There  was 
no  real  hope  either  here  or  hereafter  for  the 
world  outside  the  Jewish  pale,  though  in- 
dividual  Gentiles   might   be   saved   through 


74       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

the  uncovenanted  mercies  of  God.  Thus  the 
Jews,  by  refusing  to  part  with  the  spiritual 
particularism  of  the  past,  unfitted  themselves 
for  the  reception  of  the  higher  revelation  of 
the  present,  and  whilst  seeking  to  exclude  the 
Gentiles  from  the  kingdom  of  God  succeeded 
only  in  excluding  themselves. 

This  must  be  the  natural  nemesis  of  all  such 
exclusiveness  or  particularism  in  Judaism  or 
Christianity. 

We  have  now  dealt  with  the  chief  char- 
acteristics of  the  expected  kingdom.  We 
have  next  to  deal  with  those  of  the  expected 
Messiah.  Here  our  attention  must  not  be 
fixed  on  points  of  detail,  nor  must  we  seek 
out  the  manifold  instances  of  minute  corre- 
spondence between  this  hope  in  the  Old 
Testament  and  its  realisation  in  the  New. 
It  would  be  an  ignoratio  elenchi  to  press  the 
fulfilment  of  special  predictions  as  proofs  of 
the  divine  guidance  of  events,  where  we  regard 
the  whole  movement  as  divine.  Here  again  our 
views  of  the  expected  Messiah  must  be  drawn 
from  the  broad  view  of  prophecy  as  a  whole. 

But  greater  difficulties  beset  the  study  of 
this  subject  than  that  of  the  kingdom. 
Biblical  critics  are  divided  as  to  the  date 
when  certain  of  the  chief  factors  of  this 
expectation  arose.     Thus  some  would  bring 


THE  MESSIAH  75 

the  prediction  of  the  ideal  King  down  to 
Exile  times.  But  on  the  present  occasion 
we  may  safely  waive  the  consideration  of 
such  questions,  and  address  ourselves  forth- 
with to  the  main  question  before  us,  that  is, 
the  relation  of  the  Messiah  to  the  kingdom 
of  God.  The  student  of  the  New  Testament 
naturally  looks  on  these  two  ideas  as  strict 
correlatives.  To  him  the  Messianic  kingdom 
seems  inconceivable  apart  from  the  Messiah. 
But  even  a  cursory  examination  of  Jewish 
prophecy  and  apocalyptic  disabuses  him  of 
this  illusion.  The  Jewish  prophet  could  not 
help  looking  forward  to  the  advent  of  the 
kingdom  of  God,  but  he  found  no  diffi- 
culty in  conceiving  that  kingdom  without  a 
Messiah.  Thus  there  is  no  mention  of  the 
Messiah  in  Amos,  Zephaniah,  Nahum,  Habak- 
kuk,  Joel,  Daniel :  none  even  in  the  very  full 
eschatological  prophecies  of  Isaiah  xxiv.- 
xxvii.,  or  in  the  brilliant  descriptions  of  the 
future  in  Isaiah  liv.  11-17;  lx.-lxii.,  lxv.-lxvi., 
which  spring  from  various  post-Exilic  writers. 
Nor  is  the  situation  different  when  we  pass 
from  the  Old  Testament  to  the  subsequent 
Jewish  literature.  The  figure  of  the  Messiah 
is  absent  altogether  from  the  Books  of  the 
Maccabees,  Judith,  Tobit,  1  Baruch,  certain 
sections  of  1  Enoch,  2  Enoch,  the  Book  of 


76       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

Wisdom,  the  Assumption  of  Moses.  Hence 
it  follows  that,  in  Jewish  prophecy  and 
apocalyptic  the  Messiah  was  no  organic 
factor  of  the  kingdom.  Sometimes  he  was 
conceived  as  present,  but,  just  as  frequently, 
as  absent.  When  he  was  absent,  the  kingdom 
was  always  represented  as  under  the  immediate 
sovereignty  of  God.  Thus  Jewish  prophecy 
and  apocalyptic  represent  the  kingdom  either 
as  under  the  direct  rule  of  God,  or  of  the 
Messiah  as  God's  representative.  Judaism 
carefully  differentiated  these  two  conceptions, 
and  never  represented  the  Messiah's  juris- 
diction as  trenching  on  the  divine,  save  in 
the  Parables  of  1  Enoch  written  in  the  first 
century  before  Christ.  The  supreme  prero- 
gatives of  forgiveness,  of  judgment,  of  lord- 
ship over  death,  were  always,  except  in  this 
work,  reserved  in  Judaism  to  God  alone. 
We  shall  return  to  this  point  when  we  come 
to  deal  with  the  fulfilment  of  these  expecta- 
tions in  the  New  Testament. 

Having  now  recognised  that  the  Messiah 
was  not  an  organic  factor  of  the  kingdom, 
we  must  shortly  consider  His  chief  character- 
istics in  Old  Testament  prophecy  and  apoca- 
lyptic. We  may  consider  these  under  the  usual 
distinctions  of  the  ideal  King,  the  ideal 
Prophet,  and  the  ideal  Priest. 


THE  MESSIAH  77 

The  prophecies  which  centre  in  these  three 
conceptions  are  no  longer  submitted,  as  they 
were  in  the  past,  to  the  perverted  ingenuity 
of  commentators  and  preachers,  who  seemed 
to  believe  that  prophecy  consisted  of  a  series 
of  riddles  and  conundrums,  the  interpretation 
of  which  was  to  be  achieved  by  the  cleverest 
guesser.  Such  a  view  no  longer  prevails. 
We  do  not  now  suppose  that  the  prophets 
had  definitely  before  them  even  the  chief 
events  of  Christ's  life,  as  Dr.  Sanday  points 
out  in  his  Bampton  Lectures  (p.  404),  or  any 
distinct  conception  of  that  great  Personality. 
What  they  saw  in  prophetic  vision  was  the 
ideal  figure  of  King,  or  possibly  of  Prophet, 
or  of  Priest,^  figures  suggested  by  the  events 
of  their  own  days,  and  projected  into  the 
future  and  that  a  future  ever  close  at  hand. 
Where  the  Messiah  is  expected  it  is  all  but 
universally  as  the  ideal  King.  The  personal 
ideal  Prophet  is  nowhere  distinctly  sketched, 
but  is  rather  to  be  inferred  from  the  great 
picture  of  the  prophetic  nation  portrayed  by 
the  second  Isaiah.  These  two  hopes  were 
never  combined  in  Old  Testament  prophecy. 
Indeed,  prior  to  the  advent  of  Christianity, 
Jewish  exegetes  seem  never  to  have  appre- 
hended the  Messianic  significance  of  the 
suffering  Servant  of  Yahweh.     The  idea  of  a 


78       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

crucified  Messiah  was  an  impossible  conception 
to  the  Judaism  of  that  period. 

But  the  indistinctness  which  attaches  to 
the  expectation  of  the  Messiah  as  Prophet 
does  not  attach  to  that  of  the  Messiah  as  the 
ideal  Priest  in  the  Old  Testament.  This 
expectation,  which  did  not  arise  earlier  than 
the  second  century  B.C.,  is  clearly  attested 
in  the  110th  Psalm.1  The  older  exegetes, 
indeed,  held  that  this  Psalm  spoke  of  the 
ideal  Priest  of  David's  line,  and  they 
assigned  this  Psalm  to  the  authorship  of 
David.  This  date  and  interpretation,  as 
Dr.  Driver  shows  (Literature  of  Old  Testament, 
7th  ed.,  p.  385),  can  no  longer  be  sustained, 
and  the  Psalm  is  now  referred  by  many  of 
the  ablest  scholars  to  Maccabean  times. 
While  some  are  of  opinion  that  Jonathan 
the  brother  of  Judas,  and  others  that 
Hyrcanus  the  son  of  Simon,  was  the  subject 
of  this  Psalm,  Dr.  Cheyne,  in  his  Bampton 
Lectures,  has  advocated  with  superabundance 
of  argument,  that  it  was  addressed  to  Simon 
the  Maccabee,  after  that  he  had  been  con- 
stituted "  ruler  and  high  priest  for  ever,"  by 

1  Only  once  more  in  the  Old  Testament  is  this  expecta- 
tion referred  to,  i.  e.  in  Jer.  xxx.  21,  which,  according 
to  Duhm,  belongs  to  the  Maccabean  period,  though  the 
way  is  in  some  degree  prepared  for  this  conception  in 
Ezek.  xlv.  22  seqq. 


THE   MESSIAH  79 

a  decree  of  the  nation,  in  the  year  142  B.C. 
(1  Mace.  xiv.  27  seqq.).  A  confirmation  of  this 
view  has  lately  been  brought  to  light  by 
Bickell,  a  distinguished  Roman  Catholic 
scholar,  who  has  recognised  that  the  first 
four  verses  of  this  poem  form  an  acrostic 
on  the  name  Simeon.  That  Simeon  or 
Simon,  according  to  its  Greek  pronunciation, 
was  regarded  as  introducing  the  Messianic 
kingdom  appears  also  from  a  passage  in 
1  Maccabees  xiv.  Finally,  we  may  remark 
that  the  only  Jewish  high  priests  who  ever 
bore  the  title  "  priests  of  the  Most  High  God," 
were  the  Maccabean — a  title  which  they 
assumed  as  reviving  the  order  of  Melchizedek 
when  they  displaced  the  Zadokite  priesthood 
of  Aaron. 

We  have  therefore  in  this  Psalm  a  com- 
bination of  the  two  offices  of  priest  and  king 
in  the  person  of  Simon.  These  titles  were 
most  probably  used  by  its  writer  in  the  hope 
that  the  Messianic  kingdom  would  be  estab- 
lished in  Simon's  days.  If  now  we  pass  from 
the  Canonical  to  the  non- Canonical  books  we 
find  analogous  expectations. 

The  chief  authorities  for  Jewish  Messianic 
expectations  in  the  second  century  B.C.  out- 
side the  Canon  are  the  older  sections  of 
1  Enoch,  the  Book  of  Jubilees,  the  Testaments 


80       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

of  the  XII.  Patriarchs,  and  1  and  2  Macca- 
bees. In  studying  these  works  the  reader 
is  at  once  struck  by  the  all  but  entire  absence 
of  the  figure  of  the  Davidic  Messiah  or  the 
Messiah  descended  from  David  and  Judah. 
Where  this  hope  is  expressed  (1  Enoch  xc. ; 
Jubilees ;  Test.  Jud.  24)  it  is  practically  with- 
out significance,  and  its  belated  appearances 
seem  due  mainly  to  literary  reminiscence. 
And  yet  this  century  is  far  from  wanting  in 
descriptions  of  the  Messianic  King;  but  His 
descent  is  no  longer  traced  to  Judah  but  to 
Levi.  This  expectation  is  clearly  set  forth 
in  the  Testaments  of  the  XII.  Patriarchs. 
How  can  such  a  novel  expectation,  so  much 
at  variance  with  all  the  past,  have  arisen  ? 
There  can  be  hardly  a  doubt  that  it  was  owing 
to  the  descent  of  the  great  Maccabean  family 
from  Levi.  Around  the  various  members  of 
this  family  everything  that  is  noble  in  the 
Jewish  history  of  the  second  century  revolves. 
Is  it  a  matter  for  wonder,  then,  that  the 
zealous  Jews,  who  were  looking  for  the  speedy 
advent  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  thought  that 
this  kingdom  was  to  be  introduced  by  the 
Maccabees,  or  even  that  the  Messiah  himself 
was  to  spring  from  this  family?  At  all 
events,  an  apocalyptic  visionary,  who  wrote 
when   Judas   the  first  great  Maccabee  was 


THE  MESSIAH  81 

still  living,  held  that  Judas  would  go  on 
warring  successfully  against  Syria  and  the 
Gentile  nations,  till  the  Messianic  kingdom 
was  ushered  in  by  God,  and  the  Messiah 
himself  appeared.  In  1  Enoch  lxxxix.-xc, 
where  angels  are  symbolised  by  men  and  men 
are  symbolised  by  the  various  animals,  the 
writer  expresses  his  expectation  of  the  advent 
of  the  Messiah  at  this  period  in  the  following 
words  (xc.  38) :  "  And  I  saw  till  all  their 
generations  were  transformed,  and  they  all 
became  white  bulls;  and  the  first  among 
them  became  a  lamb,  and  that  lamb  became 
a  great  animal  .  .  .  and  the  Lord  of  the 
sheep  rejoiced  over  it  and  over  all  the  oxen." 
But  Judas  fell  in  161.  The  fullness  of  the 
times  had  not  yet  come.  The  place  of  Judas 
was  forthwith  taken  by  his  brother  Jonathan, 
who  assumed  the  high  priesthood  in  153, 
and  in  him,  possibly,  the  Messianic  hopes  of 
many  in  the  nation  centred  for  a  time;  but 
Jonathan  fell  by  his  sword  in  142,  and  the 
hope  passed  on  to  Simon,  the  subject  of  the 
110th  Psalm.  Simon  was  the  first  Maccabee 
whose  high  priesthood  was  recognised  by  the 
entire  nation,  and  this  they  did  in  words  which 
significantly  described  him  as  "  ruler  and  high 
priest  for  ever."  A  hymn  describing  the 
Messianic  blessedness  of  his  reign  is  preserved 


82       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

in   the   Sadducean   work   1   Maccabees   xiv. 
8  seqq. 

"  Then  did  they  till  their  ground  in  peace, 
And  the  earth  gave  her  increase, 
And  the  trees  of  the  field  their  fruit. 

The  ancient  men  sat  in  the  streets, 
They  all  communed  together  of  good  things, 
And  the  young  men  clad  themselves  glori- 
ously but  not  with  garments  of  war. 

(So  Syriac.) 

For  every  man  sat  under  his  own  vine  and 

figtree, 
And  there  was  none  to  make  them  afraid." 

Simon  was  succeeded  by  John  Hyrcanus  in 
135  B.C.,  in  whose  honour  was  written  a  noble 
Messianic  hymn  of  the  second  century  pre- 
served in  the  Testament  of  Levi  xviii.  2  seqq, 

"  2.  Then  shall  the  Lord  raise  up  a  new  priest, 
And  to  him  all  the  words  of  the  Lord 

shall  be  revealed, 
And  he  shall  execute  a  righteous  judg- 
ment upon  the  earth  for  a  multitude 
of  days. 

9.  And  in  his  priesthood  the  Gentiles 

Shall   be  multiplied  in  knowledge  upon 

the  earth, 
And  enlightened  through  the  grace  of  the 
Lord  : 


THE  MESSIAH  88 

In  his  priesthood  shall  sin  come  to  an  end, 
And  the  lawless  shall  cease  to  do  evil.'* 

Another  hymn  in  praise  of  John  Hyrcanus 
is  to  be  found  in  Test.  Judah  xxiv.  1-2  (A). 

"1.  And  after  these  things  shall  arise  the  star 
of  peace, 
And  shall  walk  with  men  in  meekness 
and  righteousness. 

2.  And  the  heavens  shall  be  opened  unto  him, 
And  the  blessings  of  the  Holy  Father  will 
be  poured  down  upon  him." 

John  Hyrcanus  seemed  at  last  to  realise 
the  expectations  of  the  past ;  for  according  to 
a  contemporary  writer  Hyrcanus  embraced 
in  his  own  person  the  triple  office  of  prophet, 
priest  and  civil  ruler.  He  is  referred  to  in 
Test.  Levi  viii.  14  :  "A  King  shall  arise  in 
Judah  and  shall  establish  a  new  priesthood, 
...  15.  And  his  presence  is  beloved  as  a 
prophet  of  the  Most  High."  A  statement 
to  the  same  effect  is  found  twice  in  Josephus. 
It  is  said,  moreover,  in  the  former  second 
century  authority  that  Hyrcanus  "  would 
die  (on  behalf  of  Israel)  in  wars  visible  and 
invisible  "  (Test.  Reuben  vi.  12).  For  some 
thirty  or  forty  years  the  hope  of  a  Messiah 


84       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

from  Judah  was  abandoned  in  favour  of  a 
Messiah  from  Levi.1 

But  alas  for  the  vanity  of  human  wishes  ! 
This  most  highly  gifted  member  of  the  Macca- 
bean  family  was  also  the  last  that  could  in  any 
sense  be  regarded  as  noble  and  religious.  From 
henceforth  the  ablest  Maccabeans  became 
Sadducean  in  the  most  evil  sense  of  that  term. 

From  the  second  century  B.C.  we  pass  to 
the  first,  and  witness  a  revolution  in  the 
expectations  of  the  people  corresponding  to 
that  in  the  character  of  the  Maccabees.  As 
the  Maccabees  in  the  second  century  were 
leaders  in  all  that  was  best  in  religion  and 
morals,  so  the  Maccabees  of  the  next  century 
were  foremost  in  godlessness  and  immorality. 

The  religious  thinkers  of  Judaism  accord- 
ingly abandoned  the  hope  of  a  Messiah 
sprung  from  Levi,2  but  the  hope  of  a  Messiah 

1  It  was  the  priestly  character  of  the  Maccabean  priest- 
kings  that  gave  rise  to  the  expectation  that  the  Messiah 
was  also  to  be  a  priest  as  well  as  a  king,  as  we  find  it  in 
the  New  Testament. 

2  And  yet  not  wholly ;  for  in  the  Fragments  of  a  Zado- 
kite  Work  (written  before  the  Christian  era :  see  my 
edition  published  by  the  Clarendon  Press),  the  hope  of 
a  Messiah  sprung  "  from  Aaron  and  from  Israel "  is 
repeatedly  expressed.  Clearly  he  was  not  descended 
from  Judah,  but  from  Levi,  i.  e.  from  the  Maccabean 
family  and  "  from  Israel" 

The  latter  phrase  is  difficult.  For  an  attempted  solution 
of  it  the  reader  must  be  referred  to  the  above  work. 


THE  MESSIAH  85 

itself  did  not  die,  but  reasserted  itself  afresh 
in  the  first  century  B.C.  in  two  forms.  The 
first  of  these  is  found  in  a  work  of  a  very- 
original  writer  (1  Enoch  xxxvii.-lxxi.),  who 
sought  to  direct  the  expectations  of  his 
countrymen  to  a  conception  of  the  Messiah 
which  is  unique  in  Jewish  literature — the 
supernatural  Son  of  Man.  The  student  of 
apocalyptic  can  recognise  the  germ  of  this 
conception  in  Daniel,  but  a  world  of  thought 
divides  the  symbolic  expression,  which  in 
Daniel  stands  for  the  righteous  Israel,  and 
the  personal  designation  in  1  Enoch,  which 
denotes  the  supernatural  Messiah. 

This  Son  of  Man  pre-existed  from  the 
beginning  (xlviii.  2),  he  possesses  universal 
dominion  (lxii.  6),  and  all  judgment  is  com- 
mitted unto  him  (lxix.  27).  Four  titles 
applied  to  him  for  the  first  time  in  literature 
are  afterwards  reproduced  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. These  are  "  the  Christ  "  (xlviii.  10), 
"  the  Righteous  One  "  (xxxviii.  2 ;  Acts  iii. 
14),  "  the  Elect  One  "  (xl.  5 ;  Luke  ix.  55), 
and  "  the  Son  of  Man." 

The  following  passages  from  this  work  give 
different  aspects  of  this  conception, 
xlvi.  1 : 
"  And  there  I  saw  one  who  had  a  head  of  days 
And  His  head  was  white  like  wool, 


86       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

And  with  him  was  another  being  whose 
countenance  had  the  appearance  of  a 
man. 

And  his  face  was  full  of  graciousness  like 
one  of  the  holy  angels.  ..." 

ver.  8  : 

"  And  he  answered  and  said  unto  me : 
This  is  the  Son  of  Man  who  hath  right- 
eousness, 
With  whom  dwelleth  righteousness. 

And  who  revealeth  all  the  treasures    of 

that  which  is  hidden  : 
Because  the  Lord  of  Spirits  hath  chosen 
him, 

And  whose  lot  hath  the  pre-eminence  be- 
fore the  Lord  of  Spirits  in  uprightness 
for  ever." 

xlv.  3  : 

M  On  that  day  Mine  Elect  One  shall  sit  on 
the  throne  of  glory, 
And  shall  try  their  works, 
And  their  places  of  rest  shall  be  innumer- 
able." 

xlviiL  2  : 

"  And  at  that  hour  that  Son  of  Man  was 
named 
In  the  presence  of  the  Lord  of  Spirits, 
And  his  name  before  the  head  of  Days." 


THE  MESSIAH  87 

ver.  4  : 

"  He    shall    be   a    staff   to   the   righteous 
whereon  to  stay  themselves, 
And  he  shall  be  the  light  of  the  Gentiles, 
And  the  hope  of  those  that  are  troubled 
of  heart." 

xlix.  2  : 

"  For  he  is  mighty  in  all  the  secrets  of 
righteousness,  s 

And  unrighteousness  shall  disappear  as  a 

shadow, 
And  have  no  continuance; 

Because  the  Elect  One  standeth  before  the 

Lord  of  Spirits, 
And  his  glory  is  for  ever  and  ever 
And  his  might  unto  all  generations." 

lxix.  27: 

"  And  he  sat  on  the  throne  of  his  glory, 
And  the  sum  of  judgment  was  given  unto 

the  Son  of  Man, 
And  he  caused  the  sinners  to  pass  away 

from  off  the  face  of  the  earth, 
And  those  who  have  led  the  world  astray." 

I  have  quoted  many  of  the  above  passages 
because  of  their  important  bearing  on  the 
New  Testament. 

Such  was  one  of  the  two  forms  assumed  by 
the  Messianic  hope  during  the  first  century 
B.C.  The  second  was  not  of  the  same  original 
character,    but    was    a    revival    of    the    Old 


88       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

Testament  expectation  of  the  kingly  Messiah 
sprung  from  David.  This  expectation  is 
attested  in  the  first  century  additions  to  the 
Testaments  of  the  XII.  Patriarchs.  Thus 
we  have  Judah  declaring  to  his  sons  in  T. 
Jud.  xxiv.  5-6: 

"  Then  shall  the  sceptre  of  my  kingdom 
shine  forth, 

And  from  your  root  shall  arise  a  stem ; 

And  from  it  shall  grow  a  rod  of  righteous- 
ness to  the  Gentiles, 

To  judge  and  to  save  all  that  call  upon 
the  Lord." 

But  the  main  source  of  this  teaching  in 
this  century  are  the  Psalms  of  the  Pharisees — 
usually  designated  the  Psalms  of  Solomon. 
In  these  Psalms  the  Messiah  is  conceived  as 
embracing  in  his  own  person  all  the  patriotic 
aspirations  of  the  nation.  The  Messiah  is, 
it  is  true,  the  righteous  ruler  of  Israel,  but 
he  is  no  less  assuredly  the  avenger  of  their 
wrongs  on  all  the  heathen  nations.  He  is  to 
be  a  militant  Messiah  of  the  house  and  lineage 
of  David  :  xvii.  23-25  : 

"  Behold,  O  Lord,  and  raise  up  unto  them 
their  King,  the  son  of  David, 
At  the  time  in  the  which  Thou  seest,  O 
God,  that  he  may  reign  over  Israel  Thy 
servant, 


THE  MESSIAH  89 

And  gird  him  with  strength  that  he  may 

shatter  unrighteous  rulers, 
And  that  he  may  purge  Jerusalem  from 

nations    that    trample    her    down    to 

destruction." 

He  will  make  Israel  a  holy  people,  xvii.  29, 
30,36: 

"  He  shall   not   suffer  unrighteousness  to 
lodge  any  more  in  their  midst, 
Nor  shall  there  dwell  with  them  any  man 

that  knoweth  wickedness; 
For  he  shall  know  them  that  they  are 
all  sons  of  their  God." 

No  stranger  or  sojourner  shall  dwell  in 
Jerusalem  (xvii.  31),  and  the  ungodly  nations 
shall  be  destroyed  by  the  word  of  his  mouth 
(xvii.  27),  and  when  these  are  destroyed,  the 
rest  shall  become  subject  to  him. 

Thus  the  warlike  character  of  the  Macca- 
bean  priest-kings  had  left  its  impress,  and  not 
for  good,  on  the  revived  hope  of  the  Davidic 
Messiah,  and  the  Pharisaic  party  was  hence- 
forth committed  to  political  interests  and 
movements,  and  henceforth  in  the  popular 
doctrine,  the  Old  Testament  Messiah,  the 
Prince  of  Peace,  became  a  Man  of  War. 
Such  a  doctrine,  it  is  true,  was  offensive  to 
some  of  the  noblest  Pharisees,  such  as  the 
author   of  the  Assumption   of  Moses,   who, 


90       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

writing  in  the  early  decades  of  the  Christian 
era,  lifted  up  his  voice  in  protest  against  the 
leavening  of  religion  with  earthly  political 
ideals;  but  he  protested  in  vain,  and  the 
secularisation  of  the  Pharisaic  movement 
culminated  in  the  fall  of  Jerusalem. 

We  have  now  sketched  briefly  the  character- 
istics of  the  Messiah  and  the  Messianic  king- 
dom in  the  Old  Testament  and  in  later  pre- 
Christian  literature.  We  have  seen  how  the 
kingly,  prophetic  and  priestly  conceptions  of 
the  Messiah  arose.  When  we  come  to  the 
New  Testament  it  is  not  difficult  to  see  how 
these  were  fulfilled  in  the  Christ,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  recognise  that  they  fail  to  exhaust 
the  fullness  of  His  claims  and  personality. 
Apart  from  the  Enochic  Son  of  Man  it  seems 
clear  that  a  purely  human  personality  could 
have  given  a  fairly  adequate  fulfilment  of 
the  above  threefold  office  of  king,  prophet 
and  priest. 

Certainly  the  Jews  had  no  difficulty  in  re- 
cognising such  a  fulfilment  in  John  Hyrcanus, 
though  the  prophetic  gift  in  his  case  was 
synonymous  merely  with  prediction,  and 
hence  falls  short  of  the  prophetic  ideal. 

But  in  connection  with  our  Lord's  use  of 
the  title  Son  of  Man,  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
is  first  found  as  a  personal  designation  of  the 


THE  MESSIAH  91 

Messiah  in  1  Enoch,  there  are  difficult  problems 
to  be  solved. 

A  few  scholars,  indeed,  have  declared  that 
there  is  no  problem  to  be  solved,  for  that  the 
title  is  an  interpolation  in  the  Gospels.  But 
this  last  view  is  quite  unsatisfactory.  The 
evidence  pronounces  in  favour  of  our  Lord's 
adoption  of  this  title  as  a  self -designation. 
But  if  so,  in  what  sense  is  to  it  be  under- 
stood? Various  answers  have  been  given, 
but  the  present  writer  is  of  opinion  that  no 
satisfactory  explanation  can  be  given  apart 
from  1  Enoch  and  the  passages  in  Isaiah 
dealing  with  the  suffering  Servant  of  Yah- 
weh.  While  retaining  the  supernatural  asso- 
ciations which  it  possessed  in  1  Enoch, 
this  title  underwent  transformation  in  our 
Lord's  use  of  it,  a  transformation  that  all 
Pharisaic  ideas,  so  far  as  He  adopted  them, 
likewise  underwent.  And  just  as  His  king- 
dom in  general  formed  a  standing  protest 
against  the  prevailing  Messianic  ideas  of 
temporal  glory  and  dominion,  so  the  title 
"  the  Son  of  Man  "  assumed  a  deeper  spiritual 
significance;  and  this  change  we  shall  best 
apprehend  if  we  introduce  into  the  Enoch 
conception  of  the  Son  of  Man  the  Isaiah 
conception  of  the  Servant  of  Yahweh.  These 
two  conceptions,  though  outwardly  antithetic, 


92        RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

are  through  the  transformation  of  the  former 
reconciled  and  fulfilled  in  a  deeper  unity — 
in  the  New  Testament  Son  of  Man.  This 
transformation  flowed  naturally  from  the 
object  of  Jesus'  coming,  the  revelation  of 
the  Father.  The  Father  could  be  revealed 
not  through  the  self-assertion  of  the  Son, 
but  through  His  self-renunication  and  service 
(Phil.  ii.  6).  Whilst,  therefore,  in  adopting 
the  title  "  the  Son  of  Man "  from  1  Enoch, 
Jesus  made  from  the  outset  supernatural 
claims,  yet  these  supernatural  claims  were 
to  be  vindicated  not  after  the  external 
Judaistic  conceptions  of  1  Enoch,  but  in  the 
revelation  of  the  Father  in  His  life,  death, 
and  resurrection.  Thus  in  the  life  of  the 
actual  Son  of  Man  the  Father  was  revealed 
in  the  Son,  and  supernatural  greatness  in 
universal  service.  He  that  was  greatest  was 
likewise  the  servant  of  all.  This  transformed 
conception  of  the  Son  of  Man  is  thus  per- 
meated throughout  by  the  Isaiah  conception 
of  the  Servant  of  Yahweh;  but  though  the 
Enochic  conception  is  fundamentally  trans- 
formed, the  transcendent  claims  underlying 
it  are  not  foregone.  //,  then,  we  bear  in  mind 
the  inward  synthesis  of  these  two  ideas  of  the 
past  in  one  ideal,  nay,  in  a  Personality  trans- 
cending them  both,  we  shall  find  little  difficulty 


THE  MESSIAH  93 

in  understanding  the  startling  contrasts  that 
present  themselves  in  the  New  Testament  in 
connection  with  this  designation.  Thus,  though 
the  Son  of  Man  hath  not  where  to  lay  His 
head  (Matt.  viii.  20),  yet  He  can  release  men 
from  their  sins  (Matt.  ix.  6) ;  though  He  is 
to  be  despised  and  rejected  of  the  elders 
and  chief  priests  and  scribes  and  be  put  to 
death  (Luke  ix.  22),  yet  He  is  to  be  the  judge 
of  all  mankind  (John  v.  27). 

Though  the  phrase  was  to  some  extent  a  cur- 
rent one  (cf.  Jer.  Taanith  ii.  1),  our  Lord's  use 
of  it  must  have  been  an  enigma,  not  only  to  the 
people  generally,  but  also  to  His  immediate 
disciples,  so  much  so  that  they  shrank  from 
using  it;  for  it  is  used  in  the  Gospels  only 
by  our  Lord  in  speaking  of  Himself.1 

But  again.  All  the  Old  Testament  and 
apocalyptic  ideals,  though  realised  in  one 
personality,  cannot  justify  the  tremendous 
claims  made  by  the  Son  of  Man  in  the  New. 
For  whereas  the  Messianic  kingdom  in  Old 
Testament  prophecy  and  apocalyptic  is  just 
as  frequently  conceived  without  the  Messiah 
as  with  Him,  in  the  New  Testament  the 
Messiah  forms  its  divine  Head  and  Centre, 
and  membership  of  the  kingdom  is  constituted 
first  and  chiefly  by  a  living  relationship  to  Him. 
1  Taken  from  my  2nd  edition  of  1  Enoch,  pp.  307-309. 


94       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

Thus  our  Lord  allows  no  rival  claim,  however 
strong,  to  interfere  between  Himself  and  the 
soul  of  His  disciple.  "  He  that  loveth  father 
or  mother  more  than  Me  is  not  worthy  of 
Me  (Matt.  x.  37) ;  "  If  any  man  cometh  unto 
Me,  and  hateth  not  his  father  and  mother 
and  wife  and  children,  he  cannot  be  My 
disciple "  (Luke  xiv.  26).  Again,  this  im- 
perious claim  to  devotion  extends  to  the  life 
of  the  disciple  in  its  deepest  issues  :  "  Come 
unto  Me,  all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest  "  (Matt.  xi. 
28).  Only  through  Him  can  man  have  access 
to  the  Father  :  "  None  knoweth  the  Father 
save  he  to  whom  the  Son  willeth  to  reveal 
Him  "  (Matt.  xi.  27;  Luke  x.  22). 

As  other  claims  which  are  without  any 
parallel  in  the  Old  Testament  prophecy  of 
the  Messiah,  though  found  in  part  in  1  Enoch, 
we  should  mention,  first,  His  claim  to  judge 
the  world  :  next,  to  forgive  sin ;  and,  finally, 
to  be  the  Lord  of  life  and  death.  In  the  Old 
Testament  these  prerogatives  belong  to  God 
alone  as  the  essential  Head  of  the  kingdom, 
and  appear  in  those  prophetic  descriptions 
of  the  kingdom  which  ignore  the  figure  of 
the  Messiah,  and  represent  God  as  mani- 
festing Himself  amongst  men.  Here,  then, 
we  have  the  Christ  of  the  Gospels  claiming 


THE  MESSIAH  95 

not  only  to  fulfil  the  Old  Testament  pro- 
phecies of  the  various  ideals  of  the  Messiah, 
but  also  to  discharge  the  functions  of  God 
Himself  in  relation  to  the  kingdom. 

If  to  the  synoptic  conception  of  Christ  to 
which  we  have  confined  ourselves  hitherto 
we  add  the  Johannine  and  Pauline,  the  parallel 
between  the  relation  of  Christ  to  the  kingdom 
in  the  New  Testament  and  the  relation  of 
God  to  the  promised  kingdom  in  the  Old 
becomes  still  more  complete. 

It  is  needless  to  press  this  subject  further. 
We  shall  only  add  that  though  in  the  gracious 
Figure  depicted  in  the  New  Testament  we 
have  a  marvellous  conjunction  of  character- 
istics drawn  from  the  most  varied  and  un- 
related sources  in  Old  Testament  prophecy 
and  apocalyptic,  yet  the  result  is  no  artificial 
compound,  no  laboured  syncretism  of  con- 
flicting traits,  but  truly  and  indeed  their 
perfect  and  harmonious  consummation  in  a 
personality  transcending  them  all.  So  far, 
indeed,  is  the  Christ  of  the  Gospels  from  being 
the  studied  and  self-conscious  realisation  of 
the  Messianic  hope  of  the  past,  that  it  was 
not  till  the  Christ  had  lived  on  earth  that 
the  true  inwardness  and  meaning  of  those 
ancient  ideals  became  manifest,  and  found 
at  once  their  interpretation  and  fulfilment 


96       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

in    the    various    natural    expressions    of   the 
unique  personality  of  the  Son  of  Man. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE    RISE    AND    DEVELOPMENT    IN    ISRAEL    OF 
THE  DOCTRINE  OF  A  BLESSED  FUTURE  LIFE  l 

This  subject  is  a  living  and  practical  one, 
and  hence  every  circumstance  connected  with 
the  origin  and  every  phase  in  the  development 
of  this  doctrine  cannot  fail  to  be  of  the  deepest 
moment.  This  belief  in  Israel  arose  not  in 
the  abstract  reasonings  of  the  schools,  but 
in  the  mortal  strife  of  spiritual  experience, 
and  thus,  though  our  present  task  is  to  deal 
with  the  subject  historically,  it  cannot  be  a 
matter  of  merely  historical  interest,  but  is  full 
of  practical  importance  for  all  who  are  seeking 
to  live  the  life,  not  of  nature's  ephemera,  but 
of  the  children  of  God.  For  in  this  progress 
from  the  complete  absence  of  such  a  belief  in 
Israel  to  a  positive  and  spiritual  faith  in  a 
blessed  future  life,  all  alike  can  read  writ 
large  in  the  page  of  history  from  800  B.C.  to 

1  Some  sections  of  this  chapter  are  repeated  verbally 
from  my  lecture  on  Immortality  (Clarendon  Press,  1912), 
while  it  is  based  as  a  whole  on  my  Critical  History  of  the 
Doctrine  of  a  Future  Life  (second  edition). 


A  BLESSED   FUTURE  LIFE        97 

a.d.  100  a  transcript  of  their  own  spiritual 
struggles  as  they  toil  up  the  steep  ascent  that 
leads  to  the  city  of  God.  It  is  a  national 
Pilgrim's  Progress,  which  every  child  of  man 
must  repeat  in  his  own  spiritual  experience, 
whatever  his  mental  or  moral  endowments 
may  be,  and  the  goal  is  as  assured  to  the  way- 
faring man,  though  a  fool,  as  it  is  to  the 
learned  and  the  wise. 

Before  we  enter  on  the  history  of  this 
religious  development  it  is  advisable  to  define 
the  term  eschatology,  as  it  will  frequently 
recur  as  we  proceed. 

Eschatology  is,  strictly,  the  doctrine  of  the 
last  things.  As  such  it  can  form  a  division 
of  prophecy  or  of  apocalyptic,  and  so  we  have 
an  eschatology  of  prophecy  and  an  eschat- 
ology of  apocalyptic.  But  if  we  wish  to 
have  clearer  conceptions,  we  must  proceed 
further,  and  distinguish  prophecy  and  apoca- 
lyptic. 

To  a  certain  extent  prophecy  and  apoca- 
lyptic *  occupy  the  same  field,  but  the  scope 
of  the  latter  is  incommensurably  greater. 
Prophecy  devoted  itself  to  the  present,  and 
only  to  the  future  as  rising  organically  out  of 
the  present.     It  concerned  itself  mainly  with 

1  See  the  introductory  chapter  in  this  book  on  "  Pro- 
phecy and  Apocalyptic." 
G 


98       RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

the  nation  and  its  hopes,  and  gave  birth  in  due 
time  to  the  national  hope  of  a  Messianic  king- 
dom. Later  prophecy,  it  is  true,  concerned 
itself  also  with  the  lot  of  the  individual,  and 
developed  a  doctrine  of  individual  responsi- 
bility of  an  intensely  ethical  character  in 
certain  respects.  But  its  outlook,  notwith- 
standing its  lofty  monotheism,  was  wholly 
confined  to  this  life.  No  hope  of  a  blessed 
future  life  had  dawned  on  the  prophets. 

Apocalyptic,  on  the  other  hand,  was,  like 
prophecy,  interested  in  the  present — not  so 
much  in  the  present  as  a  thing  in  itself,  but 
as  a  stage  in  the  development  of  the  divine 
plan.  With  this  end  in  view  it  sketched  in 
outline  the  history  of  the  world  and  of  man- 
kind, the  origin  of  evil  and  its  course,  the  future 
destinies  of  the  individual  and  the  race,  the 
ultimate  triumph  of  righteousness,  and  the 
final  consummation  of  all  things.  It  was  thus, 
in  short,  a  Semitic  philosophy  of  religion,  and 
as  such  it  was  ever  asking :  Whence  ?  Where- 
fore?   Whither? 

To  Jewish  apocalyptic  we  owe  three  great 
doctrines — in  some  respects  conceived,  it  is 
true,  rather  crudely.  The  first  of  these  is  the 
belief  in  a  blessed  future  life.  Not  even  a  hint 
of  this  doctrine  is  to  be  found  in  Old  Testa- 
ment prophecy.     The   second   doctrine   em- 


A  BLESSED  FUTURE  LIFE        99 

bodies  the  expectation  of  a  new  heaven  and  a 
new  earth,  and  the  third  that  the  end  of  the 
present  world  will  be  catastrophic.  These 
three  doctrines  passed  over  from  Jewish 
apocalyptic  into  Christianity,  and  have  be- 
come imperishable  elements  of  the  Christian 
faith. 

We  shall  now  address  ourselves  to  our  sub- 
ject, and  begin  with  the  eschatology  of  pre- 
prophetic  times,  and  speedily  pass  on  to  that 
of  the  later  centuries.  But  there  can  be  no 
profitable  study  of  eschatology  apart  from 
theology  proper,  i.  e.  the  doctrine  of  God ; 
for  on  the  conception  of  God  hinges  every 
other  religious  conception  of  the  nation 
ultimately,  though  the  former  may  for  long 
fail  to  wield  its  legitimate  influence  in  the 
sphere  of  religion.  In  its  earlier  stages  the 
religion  of  Israel  was  monolatrous;  that  is, 
while  the  existence  of  other  gods  was  ad- 
mitted, Yahweh  (that  is,  Jehovah,  according 
to  a  late  and  wrong  pronunciation),  and 
Yahweh  alone,  was  Israel's  God.  The  claim 
of  Yahweh,  then,  might  be  expressed  in  the 
words,  "  Thou  shalt  have  none  other  gods  but 
Me."  The  existence  of  independent  deities 
outside  Israel  was  acknowledged  by  Israel — 
such  as  Chemosh,  Milcom,  Ashtoreth.  Each 
nation  had  its  own  god,  whose  jurisdiction 


100      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

was  limited  to  his  own  country  and  to  his 
own  people,  just  as  Yahweh's  dominion  was 
originally  conceived  as  limited  to  Israel  and 
Palestine.  Since  Yahweh's  dominion  did  not 
extend  beyond  Palestine,  it  could  in  no  case 
be  regarded  as  extending  to  or  embracing 
Sheol. 

Yahweh  was  concerned  with  the  individual 
only  so  long  as  the  individual  was  living  and 
within  the  confines  of  Palestine.  When  he 
died  "he  was  cut  off,"  as  Psalm  lxxxviii. 
expresses  it,  "  from  the  hand  or  jurisdiction 
of  Yahweh."  At  this  period,  therefore,  Yah- 
wism,  or  the  religion  of  Yahweh,  could  furnish 
no  eschatology  for  the  individual,  and  the 
individual  Israelite  was  left  to  his  own  heredi- 
tary heathen  beliefs.  Now  these  beliefs  re- 
lating to  the  soul  and  spirit,  Sheol  and  the 
condition  of  the  departed  were  heathen  to  the 
core.  There  was  no  blessed  outlook  for  the 
Old  Testament  saint.  Sheol  was  the  final 
abode  alike  of  the  righteous  and  the  wicked. 

The  primitive  hope  of  the  Israelite,  like 
that  of  the  ancient  Greek  and  Roman,  and 
his  view  of  the  future  life  were  gloomy  in  the 
extreme.  Sheol  was  the  scene  of  a  shadowy 
life  that  faintly  reflected  the  realities  of  the 
upper  world,  and  there  accordingly  not  moral 
but  social  distinctions  were  observed,  and  a 


A   BLESSED  FUTURE  LIFE      l'Oi 

man  held  among  the  shades  a  position  corre- 
sponding to  the  social  position  he  had  enjoyed 
in  his  earthly  life.  That  such  a  realm  was  not 
under  the  sovereignty  of  Yahweh  was  to  be 
expected,  since  His  jurisdiction  was  limited  to 
the  upper  world,  and  there  to  His  own  people 
and  His  own  land.  Thus  the  heathen  view 
of  the  future  life  is  in  no  respect  inconsistent 
with  the  Hebrew  belief  in  Yahweh  in  its 
earliest  stage.  In  other  words,  before  the  eighth 
century  B.C.  no  conflict  between  Hebrew  theology 
and  eschatology  of  the  individual  was  possible, 
since  their  provinces  were  mutually  exclusive. 

Although  at  this  period  Yahwism  and  the 
eschatology  of  the  individual  are  independent 
of  each  other,  they  nevertheless  stand  in 
implicit  antagonism — an  antagonism  which 
becomes  explicit  in  the  subsequent  develop- 
ments of  Yahwism — that  is,  when  Yahwism 
ceased  to  be  monolatrous  and  became  mono- 
theistic. When  once  the  great  doctrine  of 
monotheism  emerged  in  Israel,  all  other 
beliefs,  whether  relating  to  the  present  life 
or  the  after-world,  were  destined  sooner  or 
later  to  be  brought  into  unison  with  it,  but 
in  the  case  of  eschatological  beliefs  later  rather 
than  sooner;  for  eschatological  beliefs  are 
universally  the  last  of  all  beliefs  to  be  influenced 
by  the  loftier  conceptions  of  God. 


102     RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

By  the  rise  of  monotheism  the  relations  of 
theology  and  eschatology  were  essentially 
transformed;  for  when  Yahweh  was  once 
conceived  as  the  Creator  and  God  of  all  the 
earth,  the  entire  existence  of  men,  here  and 
hereafter,  came  logically  under  His  jurisdic- 
tion. To  the  western  mind  this  is  an  obvious 
conclusion.  When  once  it  is  conceded  that 
God  is  the  Creator  and  God  of  all  the  world, 
then  man's  future  life,  as  well  as  his  present, 
must  be  subject  to  Divine  Providence.  And 
yet,  though  Israel  possessed  a  monotheistic 
faith  as  early  as  the  eighth  century,  it  did  not 
arrive  for  some  centuries  at  this  conclusion, 
which  appears  to  us  to  have  been  inevitable 
from  the  first.  This  is  a  startling  fact  which 
shows  that  man  was  destined  by  God  to  dis- 
cover the  doctrine  of  a  blessed  future  life — 
not  through  logical  processes  of  the  intellect, 
but  through  religious  experiences,  and  thus 
to  achieve  a  truth  for  all  men  that  shall  be 
verifiable  by  all  men,  should  they  be  willing 
to  surrender  themselves  to  a  like  religious 
experience.  And  thus  we  are  hereby  taught 
at  the  outset,  and  for  all  time,  that  the  only 
belief  in  a  future  life,  that  can  really  endure,  is 
that  which  we  arrive  at  through  the  life  of  faith. 
But  to  return.  Though  monotheism  was  im- 
plicitly at  strife  with  the  traditional  eschato- 


A  BLESSED  FUTURE  LIFE      108 

logy  of  the  individual,  the  antagonism,  as 
we  have  already  stated,  was  not  explicitly  felt 
till  some  centuries  later.  The  heathen  beliefs 
of  Israel  as  to  the  future  died  hard.  For 
centuries  the  conflict  raged  between  mono- 
theism and  these  heathen  survivals,  till  at  last 
Yahwism  had  annihilated  all  existence  in 
Sheol.  Thus  the  first  stage  of  this  conflict 
was  destructive  in  character,  but  only  with  a 
view  to  a  higher  reconstruction.  For,  while 
Yahwism  was  destroying  the  belief  in  the  false 
life  in  Sheol,  it  was  steadily  developing  in 
the  individual  the  consciousness  of  a  new  life 
and  of  a  new  worth  through  immediate  com- 
munion with  God,  as  we  see  in  the  Psalms  and 
kindred  literature.  Now  it  is  from  the  con- 
sciousness of  this  new  life  in  God  and  not  from 
a  moribund  existence  in  a  heathen  Sheol,  that 
the  doctrine  of  a  blessed  immortality  was 
developed  in  Israel.  It  was  a  new  creation — 
the  offspring  of  faith  in  God  on  the  part  of 
Israel's  saints. 

But  religious  life  and  thought  had  a  long 
journey  to  accomplish  before  they  reached 
this  goal.  Before  the  new  monotheism  had 
solved  the  problem  of  the  future  it  was  called 
upon  to  deal  with  very  pressing  problems  of 
the  present,  to  which  it  had  itself  given  birth- 
So  long  as   Yahweh  was   merely   one   God 


104      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

among  many  these  could  not  arise.  But, 
since  Yahweh  was  now  conceived  as  perfectly 
righteous  and  infinitely  powerful,  the  religious 
leaders  of  the  seventh  century  inevitably 
formulated  the  doctrine  that  the  righteous 
must  prosper  and  the  wicked  must  suffer 
adversity. 

Against  this  primitive  postulate  of  faith  no 
valid  objection  can  be  raised.  If  the  world  is 
created  and  ruled  by  a  righteous  God,  it  must 
sooner  or  later  be  well  with  the  righteous. 
But  according  to  these  ancient  teachers,  it 
must  be  well  with  the  righteous  now  and  in 
this  life,  or  not  at  all;  for,  according  to  the 
views  of  their  time,  the  faithful  had  commu- 
nion with  Yahweh  only  here;  in  the  after- 
world  they  and  all  others  were  to  be  wholly 
removed  from  the  sway  of  His  Providence. 

Thus  from  the  welding  together  of  a  true 
theology  and  a  heathen  eschatology  there 
resulted  inevitably  the  conclusion,  that  the 
righteousness  of  the  righteous  and  the  wickedness 
of  the  wicked  must  be  recompensed  in  this  life. 
The  sphere  of  retribution  was  thus  necessarily 
limited  to  this  world.  The  inclusion  of  this 
false  conception  of  the  future  in  Israel's 
theology  leads,  as  we  shall  find,  to  still  more 
extravagant  views  in  the  sixth  century. 

This  doctrine  appears  on  a  great  scale  in 


A  BLESSED   FUTURE  LIFE      105 

Deuteronomy  and  other  pre-Exilic  and  later 
writings.  The  large  element  of  truth  it  em- 
bodied won  for  it  a  general  acceptance,  and 
so  long  as  the  doctrine  was  regarded  as  a 
general  statement  and  not  applied  individu- 
ally, its  inherent  viciousness  escaped  criticism. 

But  the  time  for  such  an  application  was 
fast  approaching  through  the  development  of 
individualism. 

Down  indeed  to  the  sixth  century,  no  indi- 
vidual retribution  had  been  looked  for.  The 
early  Israelite  was  not  alarmed  by  the  pros- 
perity of  the  wicked  man,  or  the  calamities 
of  the  righteous;  for  Yahweh  was  concerned 
in  the  well-being  of  the  nation  as  a  whole,  and 
not  with  that  of  its  individual  members.  The 
individual  was  not  the  religious  unit,  but  the 
family,  the  tribe,  or  nation.  But  no  right 
view  of  the  present  or  future  destinies  of  the 
righteous  could  be  reached  till  monotheism 
had  taught  the  worth  of  the  individual  soul, 
its  immediate  relation  with  Yahweh,  and  the 
inevitable  responsibilities  attaching  thereto. 
This  was  first  done  in  the  prophecies  of 
Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel. 

Since  the  old  covenant  had  failed  to  pre- 
serve, much  more  to  redeem,  Israel,  Jeremiah 
promises  the  institution  of  a  new  covenant. 
Under    this    new    covenant    man's    spiritual 


106      RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

incapacities  for  obedience  to  God's  law  would 
be  removed ;  for,  just  as  God  had  written  His 
law  on  the  heart  of  the  prophet,  so  would  He 
write  it  on  the  heart  of  the  individual  Israelite 
(Jer.  xxxi.  32-34),  and  thus  a  new  relation 
would  be  established  between  God  and  the 
individual,  which  would  supersede  the  old 
relation,  which  had  existed  between  God  and 
the  nation  as  a  whole,  and  the  individual 
would  thus  step  into  the  place  of  the  nation 
and  become  the  religious  unit.  Heretofore 
the  individual  had  approached  God  either 
through  priest  or  prophet.  Henceforth  he 
was  to  have  direct  access  to  God  and  enter 
into  the  privileges  of  the  prophet. 

The  teaching  of  Jeremiah  was  taken  up 
and  developed  by  Ezekiel.  In  pre-Exilic 
times  the  individual  soul  had  been  conceived 
as  the  property  of  the  family  and  the  nation, 
but  Ezekiel  teaches  that  every  soul  is  God's 
and  therefore  exists  in  a  direct  relation  with 
Him  (Ezek.  xviii.  4).  Ezekiel's  individualism 
here  receives  its  most  noble  and  profound 
expression.  Never,  hitherto,  had  the  absolute 
worth  of  the  individual  human  soul  been 
asserted  in  such  brief  and  pregnant  words  as 
those  of  the  prophet  speaking  in  God's  behalf  : 
"  All  souls  are  mine."  From  this  principle 
Ezekiel  concluded  that,  if  the  individual  was 


A  BLESSED   FUTURE  LIFE      107 

faithful  in  his  immediate  relation  to  Yahweh, 
he  ceased  to  be  the  thrall  of  his  own  sin  or 
that  of  his  forefathers  (xviii.  21-9 ;  xiv.  12-20), 
and  became  a  free  man,  even  God's  man, 
wholly  unaffected  alike  by  his  own  past,  or 
that  of  the  nation.  Hence  every  man  should 
receive  a  recompense,  and  a  recompense 
exactly  adequate  to  his  deserts.  And  since 
Ezekiel,  like  his  predecessors,  believed  in  the 
traditional  view  of  Sheol  as  the  unblessed  abode 
of  the  shades  removed  from  the  sway  of  Yahweh, 
he  could  not  but  conclude  that  the  perfect  recom- 
pense which  he  taught  was  awarded  in  this  life. 
Thus  the  exact  measure  of  that  which  was  his 
due  was  meted  out  to  the  individual  in  this  life  ; 
and  the  outward  lot  of  the  individual  became  on 
this  view  an  infallible  index  to  his  character  and 
his  actual  condition  before  God.  His  prosperity 
was  a  divine  testimony  to  God's  good  pleasure 
in  him,  his  adversity  was  no  less  surely  a  sign 
of  the  divine  displeasure.  Logically  no  other 
conclusion  was  possible,  and  Ezekiel,  with  a 
sublime  defiance  of  the  actual,  maintained  this 
view  with  a  loyalty  that  hardly  ever  wavered. 
Ezekiel's  individualism  became,  with  minor 
modifications,  the  orthodox  doctrine  of  Juda- 
ism, and  was  variously  applied  in  the  two 
great  popular  handbooks,  the  Psalter  and  the 
Book  of  Proverbs. 


108      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

Notwithstanding,  this  doctrine  proved  a 
continual  stumbling-block  in  the  interpreta- 
tion of  life.  If  all  went  well  with  the  righteous 
man  he  was  assured  of  God's  favour,  but  mis- 
fortune or  pain  destroyed  this  certainty;  for 
as  such  they  were  evidence  of  unfaithfulness. 
His  personal  friends,  it  is  true,  might  in  their 
charity  construe  his  affliction  as  a  discipline 
of  God,  but  the  popular  conscience  was  only 
too  ready  to  arraign  it  as  the  penalty  of  sin. 

This  orthodox  doctrine,  moreover,  barred 
the  way  of  all  progress  to  a  higher  solution  of 
the  problem.  So  long  as  the  nation  was  con- 
vinced that  there  was  a  perfectly  adequate 
retribution  in  this  life,  there  was  no  occasion 
to  question  the  truth  of  the  current  view  on 
the  condition  of  the  departed  in  Sheol.  But 
profound  dissatisfaction  with  the  dominant 
doctrine  prevailed  in  thoughtful  circles  of 
the  opposite  character,  which  waged  a  secret 
and  long-sustained  attack  on  the  doctrine  of 
Ezekiel  and  of  the  Church  of  their  own  time, 
and  of  this  attack  two  very  notable  memorials 
have  come  down  to  us :  the  Books  of  Job  and 
Ecclesiastes,  the  former  an  anonymous  work, 
the  latter  a  pseudonymous. 

Although  Ecclesiastes  was  written  some 
two  hundred  years  later  than  Job,  we  shall 
notice  its  protest  first,  since  its  services  were 


A  BLESSED.  FUTURE  LIFE      109 

purely  destructive,  and  not,  as  in  the  case  of 
Job,  destructive  and  constructive.  We  may 
dismiss  the  former  in  a  sentence.  To  him 
the  life  of  the  individual  was  simply  a  vanity 
of  vanities,1  for  the  occasional  references  to 
judgment  are  Pharisaic  interpolations  of  a 
later  date  :  there  was  no  retribution,  either 
here  or  hereafter,  no  difference  between  the 
ultimate  destiny  of  the  righteous  and  the 
wicked,  and  none  apparently  between  that  of 
man  and  the  brute. 

The  Book  of  Job  was  written  at  all  events 
about  or  before  400  B.C.  Its  concern  from 
first  to  last  is  the  current  doctrine  of  retribu- 
tion, and  its  aim  is  to  show  that  the  doctrine 
of  man's  individual  worth  and  a  strictly  indi- 
vidual retribution  are  really  irreconcilable. 
Like  his  contemporaries,  Job  accepted  the 
traditional  teaching  that  every  event,  whether 
of  good  or  ill,  that  befalls  a  man  reflects  God's 
disposition  towards  him,  and  that  a  strictly 

1  If  the  Preacher,  owing  to  his  belief  that  extinction 
was  the  end  of  the  individual  though  the  race  was  to 
endure  for  ever  on  an  everlasting  earth,  pronounced  life 
to  be  naught  but  "  a  vanity  of  vanities,"  what  would 
he  have  said  in  the  present  day  if,  to  his  belief  in  the 
extinction  of  the  individual,  he  had  had  to  add  that  of 
the  race  also?  If  the  individual  as  well  as  the  race 
be  extinguished,  then  assuredly  the  whole  world-process 
becomes  irrational  and  immoral  —  to  the  reason  an 
inconceivable  vanity  of  vanities  ! 


110      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

retributive  judgment  is  enforced  in  this  life. 
But  this  belief,  Job  found,  was  not  confirmed 
by  the  fortunes  of  other  men  (xxi.  1-15);  for 
the  wicked  prosper  and  go  down  to  the  grave 
in  peace;  and  his  own  bitter  experience 
emphasised  to  the  full  the  conflict  between 
faith  and  experience. 

Human  faith,  in  order  to  assure  itself  of  its 
own  reality,  claims  an  outward  attestation  at 
the  hands  of  God  (xvii.  3-4) ;  but  as  all  such 
outward  attestation  was  withheld,  Job  con- 
cluded that  the  righteousness  of  God  could  not 
be  discovered  in  the  outer  world  as  ruled  by 
God ;  and  that  this  world  was  a  moral  chaos ; 
hence  from  the  God  of  such  a  world,  the  God 
of  outer  providence,  the  God  of  circumstance, 
he  appealed  to  the  God  of  faith,  though  to 
this  appeal  he  looked  for  an  answer  not  in  this 
world,  but  in  the  next  (xix.  25-27). 

"  I  know  that  my  Avenger  liveth, 
And  that  at  the  last  He  will  appear  above 

(my)  grave  : 
And  after  my  skin  has  been  destroyed, 
Without  my  body  I  shall  see  God  : 
Whom  I  shall  see  for  myself, 
And    my    eyes    shall    behold,    and    not 

another." 

In  this  momentous  passage,  which  is  the 
first  approach  in  Jewish  literature  to  the  idea 


A  BLESSED  FUTURE  LIFE      111 

of  a  blessed  life  after  death,  Job  declares  that 
God  shall  appear  for  his  vindication  against 
the  false  charges  of  his  friends  and  the  false 
ordinances  of  the  orthodox  law  of  retribution. 
He  declares,  further,  that  he  shall  himself 
witness  this  vindication,  and  enjoy  the  vision 
of  God.  But  we  cannot  infer  that  this  divine 
experience  would  endure  beyond  the  moment 
of  Job's  justification  by  God.  The  possibility 
of  the  continuance,  much  less  of  the  unending- 
ness,  of  this  higher  life  does  not  seem  to  have 
dawned  upon  him,  though  it  lay  in  the  line  of 
his  reasonings.  If  it  had,  it  could  not  have 
been  ignored  throughout  the  rest  of  the  book. 
Though  the  Book  of  Job  does  not  teach 
categorically  the  idea  of  a  future  life,  it  un- 
doubtedly suggests  it.  That  the  idea  was  in 
the  air  is  clear  from  xiv.  13-15,  xix.  25-7; 
but  even  if  these  passages  were  absent  it 
would  still  be  true,  for  throughout  the  rest 
of  the  book  the  antinomies  of  the  present  are 
presented  in  so  strong  a  light  that  the  thinkers 
of  Israel  who  assimilated  its  contents  were 
forced  henceforth  to  take  up  a  definite  attitude 
to  the  new  and  higher  theology.  Some  made 
the  venture  of  faith,  and  so  reached  forward 
to  the  doctrine  of  a  future  life;  others,  like 
the  writer  of  Ecclesiastes,  declining  the 
challenge  of  the  Spirit,  made  the  "  great  re- 


112      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

fusal,"  and  fell  back  on  materialism  and 
unbelief.  We  have  here  arrived  at  the  parting 
of  the  ways.  From  Job  we  should  naturally 
pass  to  the  consideration  of  Psalms  xvi.,  xvii., 
xlix.,  lxxiii.,  in  the  latter  two  of  which,  at  all 
events,  clear  conviction  of  a  blessed  immor- 
tality is  expressed.  In  Psalm  lxxiii.  the  writer 
declares  that  the  highest  blessedness  of  the 
righteous  is  unbroken  communion  with  God; 
what  heaven  or  earth  has  in  store  for  him 
matters  not.  In  comparison  with  God,  all 
the  universe  is  nothing;  this  life  ended,  God 
is  the  portion  of  the  souls  of  the  righteous  for 
evermore  (lxxiii.  23-6). 

So  far  we  have  taken  no  account  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  resurrection  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. To  this  subject  we  must  now  turn. 
At  the  outset  we  called  attention  to  the  two 
hopes  cherished  by  Israel — the  hope  of  the 
individual,  which  gave  birth  in  due  course  to 
the  belief  in  an  individual  immortality,  and 
the  hope  of  the  nation,  which  developed  ulti- 
mately into  the  expectation  of  the  Messianic 
kingdom.  In  this  kingdom,  as  originally  con- 
ceived, only  the  righteous  who  lived  at  the 
time  of  its  advent,  and  none  others,  should 
share.  For  several  centuries  these  two  hopes 
pursued,  side  by  side,  their  own  lines  of  de- 
velopment, and  it  was  not  till  the  third  century 


A  BLESSED  FUTURE  LIFE      113 

B.C.,  at  earliest  (  ?  )  that  they  were  seen  to  be 
complementary  sides  of  one  and  the  same 
religious  truth,  a  truth  that  subserves  and 
does  justice  to  the  essential  claims  of  both. 
Thus  when  the  doctrine  of  the  blessed  immor- 
tality of  the  faithful  is  combined  with  that  of 
the  Messianic  kingdom,  the  separate  eschato- 
logies  of  the  individual  and  of  the  nation 
issue  in  their  synthesis.  Not  only  should  the 
surviving  righteous  participate  in  the  Messi- 
anic kingdom,  but  the  righteous  dead  of  Israel 
should  rise  to  share  therein.  Thus  the 
righteous  individual  and  the  righteous  nation 
should  be  blessed  together. 

"  Thy  dead  men  (Israel)  shall  arise 
And  the  inhabitants   of  the   dust  shall 
awake  and  shout  for  joy  "    (Isa.  xxvi. 
19).1 

Thus,  the  resurrection,  stripped  of  its 
accidents  and  considered  in  its  essence, 
marks  the  entrance  of  the  individual  after 
death  into  the  divine  life  of  the  community; 
in  other  words,  the  synthesis  of  the  individual 
and  of  the  common  good.     The  faithful  in 

1  Isaiah  xxiv.-xxvii.  was  probably    a  pseudonymous 
work  incorporated  into  Isaiah  at  a  late  date.     It  may 
have  been  written  in  the  third  century  B.O.,  or  even  in 
the  second  (Duhm,  Marti  and  Gray). 
H 


114     RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

Palestine  looked  forward  to  a  blessed  future 
only  as  members  of  the  holy  people,  as  citizens 
of  the  righteous  kingdom  that  should  embrace 
their  brethren.  And  herein,  as  throughout 
this  evolution  of  religion,  we  can  trace  the 
finger  of  God,  for  it  was  no  accident  that  His 
servants  were  unable  to  anticipate  any  future 
blessedness,  save  such  as  they  shared  in 
common  with  their  brethren.  The  self- 
centredness,  nay  the  selfishness,  that  marked 
the  Greek  doctrine  of  immortality  is  con- 
spicuous by  its  absence  in  the  religious  fore- 
casts of  the  faithful  in  Israel.  In  true  religion 
unlimited  individualism  is  an  impossibility. 
The  individual  can  only  attain  to  his  highest 
in  the  life  of  the  community,  alike  here  and 
hereafter. 

Another  characteristic  of  the  original  form 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  in  Israel 
should  be  observed.  The  resurrection  was 
conceived  to  be  the  sole  prerogative  of  the 
righteous  as  it  appears  in  Isaiah  xxiv.-xxvii. 
From  this  standpoint  there  can  be  no  resurrec- 
tion of  the  wicked.  But  the  spiritual  signifi- 
cance of  the  conception  is  lost  in  Daniel, 
where  the  resurrection  is  limited  on  the  one 
side  to  the  martyrs,  and  extended  on  the  other 
to  the  apostates  of  Israel. '  In  most  writings 
during  the  next  three  centuries  it  is  taught  or 


A  BLESSED  FUTURE  LIFE      115 

implied  that  only  the  righteous  shall  have 
part  in  the  resurrection. 

Before  leaving  the  Old  Testament  we  might 
add  that  the  above  doctrines  are  the  beliefs 
or  aspirations  of  only  a  few  of  the  faithful  in 
Israel.  The  mass  of  the  people  still  clung  to 
the  older  views.  The  higher  theology  had 
still  to  win  over  the  nation. 

From  the  Old  Testament  we  pass  to  the 
Apocrypha  and  Pseudepigrapha  of  the  Old 
Testament,  which  were  written  between  180 
B.C.  and  a.d.  100.  These  centuries,  especially 
the  two  preceding  the  Christian  era,  were  till 
recently  regarded  as  the  centuries  of  silence, 
during  which  no  fresh  voice  or  teaching  of 
God  reached  the  nation.  There  could  hardly 
be  a  more  mistaken  idea.  So  far  from  being 
ages  of  spiritual  stagnation  and  darkness, 
they  might  with  justice  be  described  as  the 
two  most  fruitful  centuries  in  religious  life 
and  thought  in  the  history  of  Israel.  No 
New  Testament  scholar  can  understand  the 
New  Testament  as  the  culmination  of  the 
spiritual  development  of  the  past  apart  from 
this  literature,  nor  can  the  Jew  explain  how 
Talmudic  Judaism  came  to  possess  its  higher 
conceptions  of  the  future  life,  unless  he  studies 
this  literature  as  the  sequel  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment.    For  there  is  not  a  single  reference  to 


116     RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

a  blessed  future  life  in  the  Pentateuch  nor  in 
the  Prophets  strictly  so  called.  Only  in  two 
Psalms  and  in  three  apocalyptic  writings — 
Job,  Isaiah  xxvi.  and  Daniel — is  the  question 
dealt  with.  Judaism  owes  these  beginnings 
of  the  higher  theology  not  to  the  Law  as  such, 
but  to  the  Apocalyptic  School  in  Judaism,  and 
yet  the  works  of  this  school  were  banned  and 
destroyed  by  Rabbinic  Judaism  after  the  first 
century  of  the  Christian  era. 

We  are  not,  however,  to  suppose  that  all  the 
Jewish  literature  of  these  centuries  inculcated 
the  higher  theology.  The  very  important 
work  of  Sirach,  the  Book  of  Tobit,  and 
1  Maccabees  represent  the  older  theology, 
which,  in  its  outlook  on  the  next  life,  was 
decidedly  of  a  heathen  character.  All  retribu- 
tion is  confined  to  this  life  (cf .  Sirach  xli.  3,  4) : 

"  Fear  not  death  .  .  . 

(Be  it)  for  a  thousand  years,  for  a  hundred, 
or  for  ten  (that  thou  livest) 

In  Sheol  there  are  no  corrections  concern- 
ing life." 

Or,  again,  xxvii.  27,  28: 

"  For  what  pleasure  hath  God  in  all  that 
perish  in  Hades, 
Instead  of  the  living  and  those  that  give 
Him  praise  ? 


A  BLESSED  FUTURE  LIFE      117 

Thanksgiving  perisheth  from  the  dead  as 

from  one  that  is  not, 
But  he  that  liveth  and  is  in  health  praiseth 

the  Lord." 

So  far,  then,  as  the  doctrine  of  a  blessed 
future  life  is  concerned,  these  works  are 
reactionary  and  belong  to  the  past,  and  have 
no  share  in  developing  the  few  and  tentative 
efforts  that  appear  in  this  direction  in  the 
Old  Testament.  This  task  was  committed 
to  a  small  body  of  zealous  Jews,  who  were 
known  as  Chasidim  or  Asidaeans,  i.  e.  "  pious 
ones."  The  first  reference  to  these  as  forming 
a  religious  organisation  l  is  found  in  1  Enoch, 
xc.  6  (circ.  161  B.C.).  In  this  passage  they 
are  described  in  allegorical  terms :  "  But 
behold  lambs  were  borne  by  those  white  sheep, 
and  they  began  to  open  their  eyes,  and  to  see 
and  to  cry  to  the  sheep."  The  "  white 
sheep  "  here  are  the  faithful  adherents  of  the 
Theocracy,  the  lambs  are  the  Chasidim.  The 
lambs  are  distinguished  from  the  white  sheep, 
because  the  movement  initiated  by  the 
Chasidim  marked  a  new  and  severer  rule  of 

1  This  movement  originated  in  the  school  of  Apoca- 
lyptic. Ezekiel  has  been  called  the  father  of  Apocalyptic, 
but  in  only  some  respects  is  this  true.  From  this  school  in 
subsequent  centuries  emanated  the  Book  of  Job,  Isaiah 
xxiv -xxvii.,  Zech.  ix.-xiv.  and  the  Book  of  Daniel,  and 
many  sections  in  the  prophetical  writings. 


118       RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

life  and  worship  than  had  hitherto  been 
observed.  From  the  Maccabean  revolution 
they  held  aloof  for  some  time,  because  it  had 
broken  off  relations  with  the  high  priest  of  the 
time,  the  religious  head  of  the  nation,  but  at 
last  they  were  forced  to  support  it  owing  to 
the  hopeless  corruption  of  the  high-priesthood. 
So  long  as  the  Maccabean  family  fought 
simply  for  the  restoration  of  the  Theocracy, 
they  commanded  the  entire  allegiance  of  the 
Chasidim,  but  the  moment  that  Jonathan 
assumed  the  high-priestly  office,  they  gradu- 
ally withdrew  their  support  and  abandoned 
the  arena  of  public  life.  For  almost  half  a 
century  they  are  unknown  to  history.  When 
they  once  more  reappear  in  the  public  arena, 
they  are  known  as  the  Pharisees,  and  from 
henceforth  for  good  or  ill  mould  the  destinies 
of  the  nation.  However  corrupt  this  move- 
ment became  in  later  times,  it  was  incompar- 
ably noble  in  its  early  days.  To  this  compara- 
tively small  body  of  men  was  entrusted  the 
defence,  confirmation,  and  development  of 
the  religious  truths  that  were  to  save  the 
world. 

Now  this  task  it  achieved  in  the  two  cen- 
turies before  the  Christian  era,  and  the  steps 
by  which  it  did  so  are  to  be  found  in  the 
apocalyptic  books  of  Enoch,  Testaments  of 


A  BLESSED   FUTURE  LIFE      119 

the  XII.  Patriarchs,  Jubilees,  the  Book  of 
Wisdom,  the  Psalms  of  Solomon,  the  Assump- 
tion of  Moses,  and  others. 

We  are  not,  indeed,  to  imagine  that  these 
books  simply  took  up  and  popularised  the 
few  teachings  of  the  Old  Testament  on  this 
subject.  Not  so.  The  apocalyptic  writers 
simply  took  these  writings  as  a  starting- 
point,  and  developed  a  series  of  eschatological 
systems  by  means  of  which  the  heathen  sur- 
vivals in  the  Old  Testament  are  displaced  and 
comparatively  consistent  and  spiritual  views 
of  the  future  are  developed.  It  is  impossible 
on  the  present  occasion  to  trace  even  the  chief 
phases  of  this  development.  We  must  not, 
however,  neglect  to  mention  one  change  of 
surpassing  importance  in  the  conception  of 
the  kingdom,  as  well  as  some  individual 
developments  made  in  this  period.  This 
great  transformation  in  the  Messianic  hope 
took  place  about  100  B.C.,  and,  owing  to  it,  a 
great  gulf  divides  the  eschatology  of  the  follow- 
ing centuries  from  that  of  the  past.  Thus  the 
hope  of  an  eternal  Messianic  kingdom  on  the 
present  earth,  which  had  been  taught  by  the 
Old  Testament  prophets  and  cherished  by 
every  Israelite,  was  then  abandoned.  The 
earth  had  come  to  be  regarded  as  wholly  unfit 
for  the  manifestation  of  the  kingdom.    As  a 


120      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

consequence  of  this  breach  between  the 
things  of  earth  and  the  things  of  heaven,  sub- 
sequent writers  were  forced  to  advance  to 
new  conceptions  of  the  kingdom.  Some 
taught  that  the  Messianic  kingdom  was  hence- 
forth to  be  of  merely  temporary  duration,  and 
I  that  the  goal  of  the  risen  righteous  was  to  be 
not  this  transitory  kingdom  or  millennium, 
but  heaven  itself.  From  this  abandonment 
of  the  hope  of  an  eternal  Messianic  kingdom 
it  followed  further  that  not  only  the  resurrec- 
tion but  also  the  final  judgment  were  ad- 
journed to  its  close,  though  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment they  had  always  served  to  initiate  the 
kingdom. 

Only  a  few  other  developments  can  be 
noticed.  Whereas  in  the  Old  Testament  and 
the  literature  of  the  second  century  the 
righteous  were  raised  to  live  again  on  the 
present  earth  with  glorified  but  earthly  bodies, 
wherewith  they  could  marry  and  be  given  in 
marriage,  after  100  B.C.  a  transcendent  view 
of  the  risen  righteous  is  developed — the  risen 
righteous  enter  immediately  into  heaven  itself 
or  an  eternal  Messianic  kingdom  in  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth.  To  such  spiritual 
abodes  there  could  be  no  mere  bodily  resur- 
rection. Hence,  either  there  would  only  be  a 
resurrection  of  the  spirit,  and  the  righteous 


A  BLESSED  FUTURE  LIFE      121 

would,  as  an  old  writer  says,  be  as  the  angels 
of  God  in  heaven,  or  else  they  would  rise  in 
garments  of  light  and  glory.  Moreover, 
throughout  the  first  century  B.C.,  it  is  all  but 
universally  taught  that  only  the  righteous 
should  have  part  in  the  resurrection. 

As  regards  Sheol,  a  whole  history  is  wrapped 
up  in  the  uses  of  this  term.  Amid  the  various 
divergent  conceptions  of  it  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment two  features  always  persist.  First,  it 
is  a  place  where  social  and  not  moral  dis- 
tinctions prevail;  and  secondly,  though  an 
abode  of  misery  and  wretchedness,  it  is  not 
like  Gehenna — a  place  of  torment  by  fire. 
Now  in  the  course  of  apocalyptic  literature 
these  views  are  abandoned.  From  180  B.C. 
onward  Sheol  is  generally  conceived  as  a  place 
of  moral  distinctions,  and  shortly  after  100  B.C. 
Sheol  is  described  for  the  first  time  as  an 
abode  of  fire,  as  in  the  New  Testament. 

I  will  here  give  the  first  passage  in  Jewish 
literature  which  attests  the  transformation 
of  Sheol  into  a  place  of  moral  distinctions. 
Thus,  in  1  Enoch  xxii.  9-13,  three  divisions 
for  spirits  or  souls  in  the  after-world  are  de- 
scribed :  the  first  for  righteous  spirits ;  the 
second  for  the  spirits  of  sinners,  who  died 
without  suffering  retribution  in  this  world. 
To  both  these  classes  Sheol  will  be  an  inter- 


122      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

mediate  place  from  which  they  shall  rise  to 
inherit  respectively  blessedness  and  torment 
at  the  day  of  judgment.  The  third  division 
is  for  the  spirits  of  sinners  who  have  met  with 
retribution  in  this  life.  For  them  Sheol  has 
become  an  eternal  abode,  xx.  9-13  :  "  These 
three  have  been  made  that  the  spirits  of  the 
dead  might  be  separated.  And  this  division 
has  been  made  for  the  spirits  of  the  righteous, 
in  which  there  is  the  bright  spring  of  water.1 
(10)  And  this  has  been  made  for  sinners  when 
they  die  and  are  buried  in  the  earth  and  judg- 
ment has  not  been  executed  upon  them  in  their 
lifetime.  (11)  Here  their  spirits  shall  be  set 
apart  in  this  great  pain,  till  the  great  day  of 
judgment,  scourgings  and  torments  of  the 
accursed  for  ever,  so  that  (there  may  be) 
retribution  for  their  spirits.  There  shall  He 
bind  them  for  ever.  (12)  And  this  division 
has  been  made  for  the  spirits  of  those  who  .  .  . 
were  slain  in  the  days  of  the  sinners.  (13) .  . . 
who  are  godless  .  .  .  but  their  spirits  shall 
not  be  punished  on  the  day  of  judgment,  nor 
shall  they  be  raised  from  thence." 

It  is  difficult  to  exaggerate  the  importance 
of  this  revolution  in  Jewish  thought  on  the 
nature  of  the  after-life.      But,  after  all,  the 

1  This  is  most  probably  conceived  as  a  well  of  the  water 
of  life. 


A  BLESSED   FUTURE   LIFE      128 

conception  of  Sheol  is  only  imperfectly  ethical. 
The  destiny  of  each  soul  is  regarded  as  accom- 
plished at  death,  and  its  place  in  Sheol,  or 
ultimately  in  Gehenna,  is  absolutely  and 
irrevocably  defined  according  to  its  character 
on  earth.  Hence,  at  its  best,  Sheol  thus  con- 
ceived is  only  a  place  of  petrified  moralities 
and  suspended  graces.  It  begins  with  being 
moral  and  ends  in  being  purely  mechanical. 

During  this  period  Gehenna  undergoes  trans- 
formation. We  cannot  here  enter  into  its 
various  developments.  We  shall  only  ob- 
serve that  it  was  originally  conceived  as  the 
future  abode  of  apostate  Jews,  in  which  they 
suffered  both  in  body  and  spirit.  The  former 
idea  was  soon  abandoned,  and  it  was  regarded 
as  the  final  abode  of  punishment  of  the  souls 
or  spirits  of  the  wicked.  Another  idea  came 
to  be  associated  with  this  conception  in  the 
second  century  B.C.,  i.  e.  that  the  punishment 
of  the  wicked  was  carried  out  in  the  presence 
of  the  righteous.  By  the  first  century  a.d. 
this  attribute  of  Gehenna  has  already  been 
transferred  to  Sheol  or  Hades,  as  we  see  from 
the  Parable  of  Dives  and  4  Ezra. 

Amongst  the  many  other  notable  transfor- 
mations and  developments  of  Old  Testament 
conceptions  which  took  place  in  subsequent 
apocalyptic,  we  can  only  notice  those  of  the 


124     RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

soul  and  spirit.  Into  the  very  complicated 
history  of  the  relations  of  these  two  concep- 
tions in  the  Old  Testament  and  late  Jewish 
and  Christian  literature  we  cannot  here 
enter.  It  will  be  sufficient  here  to  point  out 
that  in  the  Old  Testament  the  soul  is  in  all 
passages  save  one  in  Daniel  the  bearer  of  the 
personality.  Accordingly  it  is  the  soul  and 
not  the  spirit  that  descends  into  Sheol.  In  the 
Old  Testament  there  are,  in  fact,  two  anthro- 
pologies. According  to  the  older  Hebrew 
view  the  spirit  and  soul  were  practically 
identical.  Man  was  a  dichotomy,  i.  e.  com- 
posed of  spirit,  or  soul,  and  body.  The 
term  "  spirit "  was  appropriated  to  mark  the 
stronger  side  of  the  soul,  and  the  stronger  and 
stormier  emotions.  Accordingly,  when  a  man 
fainted  or  died,  it  was  because  his  spirit  had 
left  him.  Thus  the  soul,  which  was  con- 
ceived to  be  weak  and  shorn  of  the  strength 
which  it  enjoyed  when  conjoined  with  the 
spirit,  alone  went  down  into  Sheol.  But  in 
Genesis  ii.-iii.  there  is  quite  a  different  con- 
ception of  man.  There  man  is  represented 
as  a  trichotomy  of  spirit,  soul  and  body: 
the  spirit  is  the  breath  of  God,  and  the  soul 
only  a  function  of  the  quickened  body. 
According  to  this  view,  when  the  spirit  is 
withdrawn  the  personality  is  extinguished  at 


A  BLESSED  FUTURE  LIFE      125 

death.  This  dissolution  of  the  personality  at 
death  is  frankly  recognised  in  Ecclesiastes  xii. 
7,  and  the  impersonal  breath  of  life  returns  to 
the  Supreme  Fount  of  Life  :  "  the  spirit  shall 
return  to  God  who  gave  it."  This  anthropo- 
logical view  is  logically  and  historically  the 
parent  of  later  Sadduceeism,  which  taught 
that  there  was  neither  angel  nor  spirit  (Acts 
xxiii.  8). 

Thus  we  see  that,  according  to  the  two 
different  conceptions  of  man  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, the  spirit  was  not  the  bearer  of  the 
personality,  and  could  not  descend  into  Sheol. 
In  the  apocalyptic,  however,  of  the  second 
and  first  centuries  B.C.  there  is  a  complete 
reversal  of  this  view.  The  spirit  is  just  as 
frequently,  or  rather  more  frequently,  spoken 
of  as  the  bearer  of  man's  personality  in  the 
future  life.  In  fact  spirit  and  soul  are  practi- 
cally conceived  as  identical  at  this  period, 
and  likewise  in  the  New  Testament,  save  in 
the  Pauline  Epistles.  In  the  Pauline  Epistles 
the  soul  and  spirit  are  carefully  discriminated, 
and,  in  contradistinction  to  the  Old  Testa- 
ment view  that  the  soul  is  the  bearer  of  the 
personality,  St.  Paul  held  that  the  spirit  was 
the  bearer  of  the  personality,  and  accordingly 
he  always  (save  once  in  his  earliest  Epistle) 
speaks  of  the  saving  of  the  spirit,  not  of  the 


126      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

saving  of  the  soul.  His  matured  view  appar- 
ently was  that  it  was  the  spirit  and  not  the 
soul  that  survived  death. 

What  happens  in  the  case  of  the  conceptions 
just  dealt  with  happens  in  the  case  of  all 
technical  eschatological  terms.  There  is  con- 
stant movement,  constant  development ;  and 
the  movement  is,  on  the  whole,  towards  a 
more  spiritual  conception  of  the  future,  in  the 
course  of  which  the  lower  survivals  of  the 
past  are  steadily  dropped  and  higher  con- 
ceptions set  in  their  place.  But,  as  is  natural, 
throughout  the  entire  development  eschato- 
logical thought  always  stands  on  a  lower 
spiritual  plane  than  the  theological  conception 
of  God. 

We  have  now  traced  the  steps  taken  by  the 
religious  thinkers  in  Israel  as  they  rose  to  the 
conception  of,  and  faith  in,  a  blessed  future 
life.  The  belief  is,  of  course,  still  in  an  initial 
and  immature  stage.  We  have  mentioned  a 
few  of  its  subsequent  developments  in  apoca- 
lyptic literature.  Its  further  growth  and  en- 
richment in  the  New  Testament  shall  soon 
claim  our  attention. 

When  we  pass  from  Jewish  literature  to 
that  of  the  New  Testament  we  find  ourselves 
in  an  absolutely  new  atmosphere.  It  is  not, 
indeed,  that  we  have  to  do  with  a  wholly  new 


A  BLESSED   FUTURE   LIFE      127 

world  of  ideas  and  moral  forces,  for  all  that 
was  great  and  inspiring  in  the  past  has  come 
over  into  the  present,  and  claimed  its  part  in 
the  formation  of  the  Christian  Church.  But 
in  the  process  of  incorporation  this  heritage 
from  the  past  has  been,  of  necessity,  largely, 
but  not  in  every  case  wholly,  transformed. 
These  forces  and  ideas  no  longer  constitute 
a  heterogeneous  mass  in  constant  flux,  but 
gradually  fall  into  their  due  subordination, 
and  contribute  harmoniously  to  the  purpose 
of  the  whole.  For  the  Christ  assumes  a 
position  undreamt  of  in  the  past,  and  member- 
ship of  the  kingdom  is  constituted  firstly  and 
predominatingly  through  personal  relationship 
to  its  divine  Head. 

The  synthesis  of  the  hopes  of  the  race  and 
of  the  individual  is  established  in  a  universal 
form  finally  and  for  ever.  The  divine  king- 
dom begins  on  earth  and  will  be  consummated 
in  heaven.  It  forms  a  divine  society,  in 
which  the  position  and  significance  of  each 
member  are  determined  by  his  endowments, 
and  his  blessedness  conditioned  by  the  blessed- 
ness of  the  whole.  Thus  religious  individual- 
ism becomes  an  impossibility.  On  the  one 
hand,  while  it  is  true  the  individual  can  have 
no  part  in  the  kingdom  save  in  a  living  relation 
to  its  Head,  yet,  on  the  other,  this  relation 


128     RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

cannot  be  maintained  and  developed  save 
through  life  in  and  for  the  brethren;  and  so 
closely  is  the  individual  life  bound  up  in  that 
of  the  brethren  that  no  soul  can  reach  its 
consummation  apart. 

We  have  already  seen  that  at  all  periods 
in  the  history  of  Israel  there  existed,  side  by 
side,  in  its  religion  incongruous  and  incon- 
sistent elements.  On  the  one  side  there  was 
the  doctrine  of  God,  ever  advancing  in  depth 
and  fullness ;  on  the  other,  eschatological  and 
other  survivals,  which,  however  justifiable  in 
other  stages,  are  in  unmistakable  antagonism 
with  the  theistic  beliefs  of  the  time.  The 
eschatology  of  the  nation  is  always  the  last 
part  of  its  religion  to  experience  the  trans- 
forming power  of  new  ideas  and  new  facts. 
The  eschatology  of  Israel  was  at  times  six 
hundred  years  behind  its  theology. 

The  recognition  of  these  facts  is  of  transcen- 
dent importance  when  we  deal  with  New 
Testament  eschatology.  It  prepares  us  for 
the  occurrence  to  some  extent  of  similar 
phenomena  in  the  New  Testament,  and  makes 
us  ready  to  acknowledge  their  existence  and 
give  them  their  full  historical  value.1    Stand- 

1  I  have  shown  that  in  pre-Christian  times  there  was 
constant  and  generally  progressive  movement  in  eschato- 
logical conceptions.    Such  a  movement  finds  its  parallel 


A  BLESSED  FUTURE  LIFE      129 

ing  at  variance  as  they  do  with  the  Christian 
fundamental  doctrines  of  God  and  Christ,  they 
must  be  condemned  as  survivals  of  an  earlier 
and  lower  stage  of  religious  belief.  In  Chris- 
tianity there  is  a  survival  of  alien  Judaistic 
elements,  just  as  in  the  Hebrew  religion  there 
were  for  centuries  survivals  of  Semitic 
heathenism.  Let  us  take  two  concrete  in- 
stances. In  the  Hebrew  religion  Sheol,  as  a 
place  of  social  and  national  distinctions,  was 
a  purely  heathen  conception.  The  first  de- 
cisive stage  in  its  moralisation  took  place 
early  in  the  second  century  B.C.,  when  it  was 
transformed  into  a  place  of  moral  distinctions. 

in  the  Pauline  writings.  The  Apostle's  ideas  on  this 
subject  were  continually  advancing.  He  began  with 
expectations  of  the  future  that  he  had  inherited  from 
Judaism,  but  under  the  influence  of  the  great  formative 
Christian  conceptions  he  parted  with  these,  and  entered 
on  a  process  of  development  in  the  course  of  which  the 
heterogeneous  elements  were  for  the  most  part  silently 
dropped. 

Several  distinct  stages  in  the  process  may  be  distin- 
guished. Of  these  we  may  mention  one.  In  his  earlier 
epistles,  under  the  influence  of  inherited  Jewish  beliefs, 
St.  Paul  looked  forward  to  a  great  apostasy,  and  the  revela- 
tion of  the  man  of  sin  as  the  immediate  precursor  of  the 
Advent.  Thus  the  history  of  the  world  was  to  close  in 
the  culmination  of  evil  and  the  final  impenitence  of  the 
bulk  of  mankind.  In  Romans  xi.,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
Apostle  proclaims  the  inner  and  progressive  transforma- 
tion of  mankind  through  the  Gospel,  culminating  in  the 
conversion  of  the  entire  Gentile  and  Jewish  worlds  as 
the  immediate  prelude  of  the  Advent  of  Christ. 
I 


130      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

But  this  moralisation  was  very  inadequately 
carried  out.  According  to  the  Judaistic  con- 
ceptions, souls  in  Sheol  were  conceived  as 
insusceptible  of  ethical  progress.  What  they 
were  on  entering  Sheol,  that  they  continued 
to  be  till  the  final  judgment.  This  conception 
is  mechanical  and  unethical,  if  judged  in  the 
light  of  Christian  theism.  It  precludes  moral 
change  in  moral  agents  who  are  under  the 
rule  of  a  Being  of  perfect  love  and  righteous- 
ness. The  doctrine  of  eternal  damnation, 
also,  is  a  Judaistic  survival  of  a  still  more 
grossly  immoral  character.  This  doctrine  is 
antagonistic  in  the  highest  degree  to  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  where  a  man  is  taught 
to  love  his  enemies  even  as  God  does,  and  to 
labour  unceasingly  on  their  behalf,  and  to  the 
Johannine  teaching  which  finds  its  highest 
expression  in  the  divinest  utterance  in  all 
literature — "  God  is  love."  In  connection 
with  this,  the  highest  conception  of  Cod 
possible,  the  conception  of  Hades  must  make 
its  final  ethical  advance  and  become  a  place 
where  moral  growth  and  moral  declension  are 
alike  possible.  This  advance  is  really  implied 
in  1  Peter  iv.  Furthermore,  the  old  Judaistic 
conception  of  Hell  as  a  place  of  eternal  damna- 
tion must  be  abandoned.  Sin,  according  to 
the  Johannine  view,  is  the  destroyer  of  life — 


A  BLESSED   FUTURE  LIFE      131 

physical,  spiritual,  and  ontologieal.  Now  to 
check  the  ultimate  effects  of  this  process  of 
destruction  and  preserve  the  sinner  in  a  state 
of  ever-growing,  ever-deepening,  and  yet 
ever-inevitable  sin  could  in  no  sense  be  the 
work  of  the  God  so  conceived. 

Hence  the  theology  of  the  New  Testament 
with  its  doctrine  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God 
demands  a  transformation  of  the  Jewish 
doctrine,  and  postulates  our  acceptance  either 
of  Conditional  Immortality,  or,  as  Origen  of 
old  taught,  of  Universalism.  So  far  as  the 
Christian  Churches  hold  fast  to  the  doctrine 
taken  over  from  Judaism  at  the  Christian  era, 
their  eschatology  is  nearly  two  thousand  years 
behind  their  doctrine  of  God  and  Christ.  We 
are  all  ready,  I  hope,  in  some  fashion  to  recog- 
nise the  possibility  of  a  further  probation. 
Some  of  us  may  only  go. so  far  as  to  hold  pro- 
bation as  a  purely  speculative  question  and  a 
matter  of  grace  on  the  part  of  God.  But  there 
are  others  amongst  us  who  regard  it  in  quite 
a  different  light,  and  who  cannot  simply  rele- 
gate it  to  the  region  of  God's  uncovenanted 
mercies,  seeing  that  it  affects  so  deeply  the 
character  of  God  Himself.  Nay,  they  would 
hold  it  a  dishonour  to  the  God  they  revere 
and  serve  even  to  admit  the  possibility  that 
He  should  visit  with  a  never-ending  punish- 


132     RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

ment  the  errors  and  shortcomings,  nay  more, 
the  wilful  sins  of  a  few  dim  and  mistaken  years 
of  earth,  and  limit  to  a  handbreadth  of  time 
the  opportunities  and  irremediable  issues  of  a 
never-ending  eternity. 

This  study  of  the  rise  and  development  of 
the  doctrine  of  a  blessed  future  life  enforces 
its  own  lesson.  It  was  only  through  a  strenu- 
ous life  of  faith  that  Israel  won  its  belief  in  a 
blessed  immortality,  a  belief  that  with  the 
passing  generations  assumed  higher  and  more 
spiritual  forms,  till  in  Christianity  its  trans- 
figuration became  all  but  complete.  And 
what  has  been  won  through  religious  experi- 
ence cannot  be  preserved  and  developed  other- 
wise than  by  religious  experience.  And  in 
such  experience  we  not  only  keep  what  we 
have  won  but  we  go  from  strength  to  strength, 
rising,  as  we  advance,  into  an  ever  higher  and 
fuller  life,  and  the  assurance  of  this  life  grows 
in  the  measure  of  our  faithfulness,  just  as  the 
consciousness  of  it  grows  dim  if  we  live  as 
though  it  were  not,  till  at  last  the  faculty  for 
its  discernment  is  itself  lost — at  all  events  for 
the  time — through  atrophy  and  disuse. 

To  such,  philosophy  or  even  psychical  re- 
search may  render  some  negative  help,  but 
into  the  full  inheritance  of  the  faithful  the 
individual  cannot  enter  by  such  arguments. 


FORGIVING  ONE'S  NEIGHBOUR    133 

Only  through  personal  communion  with  the 
Fount  of  Life  is  man  enabled  to  rise  into  the 
eternal  life.  In  such  communion  his  doubt- 
ings  vanish,  his  assurance  of  a  share  in  the 
blessed  hereafter  grows  in  strength  and  volume, 
and  the  essential  interests  and  issues  of  his 
life  are  more  and  more  lifted  above  the 
horizons  of  time  and  set  in  divine  relations, 
that  are  commensurate  only  with  the  limits 
of  an  immortal's  years. 


CHAPTER  V 

man's    forgiveness    of    his    NEIGHBOUR — A 

STUDY  IN   RELIGIOUS    DEVELOPMENT 

When  we  study  the  teachings  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments  on  this  subject,  we  are 
at  once  struck  with  the  vast  ethical  gulf  that 
severs  the  latter  from  the  former,  not,  indeed, 
on  the  question  of  God's  forgiveness  of  man, 
but  of  man's  forgiveness  of  his  neighbour. 
In  the  New  Testament,  from  the  first  page 
to  the  last,  with  the  exception  of  certain 
passages  in  the  New  Testament  Apocalypse, 
it   is   either    explicitly    stated    or   implicitly 


134      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

understood  that  a  man  can  only  receive  the 
divine  forgiveness  on  condition  that  he  for- 
gives his  neighbour.  Indeed,  in  their  essential 
aspects  these  two  forgivenesses  are  one  and 
the  same.  But  in  the  Old  Testament  it  is 
very  different.  There,  indeed,  God's  for- 
giveness is  granted  without  money  and  without 
price  to  the  sinner  who  truly  seeks  it.  But  the 
penitent  in  the  Old  Testament  could  accept 
and  enjoy  the  divine  pardon  and  yet  cherish 
the  most  bitter  feelings  towards  his  own 
personal  enemy.  There  are,  indeed,  some 
noble  passages  in  the  Old  Testament  which 
forbid  the  indulgence  of  personal  resentment. 
Though  few  in  number,  and  indeed  but  as 
voices  crying  in  the  wilderness,  they  are  yet 
of  transcendent  import;  for  they  form  the 
beginnings  of  that  lofty  doctrine  of  forgive- 
ness which  reaches  its  highest  expression  in 
the  New  Testament,  as  we  shall  now  proceed 
to  show.  The  presence  of  such  passages  in 
the  Old  Testament  is  evidence  that  already 
the  more  spiritual  minds  in  Judaism  were 
working  towards  loftier  conceptions  of  for- 
giveness than  those  that  had  prevailed  in  the 
past  or  were  current  among  their  contempo- 
raries. We  shall  now  try  to  show  the  chief 
steps  in  the  advance  to  this  more  ethical 
attitude  towards  an  enemy. 


FORGIVING  ONE'S  NEIGHBOUR    135 

I.  One  of  the  oldest  statements  in  the  Bible 
which  shows  a  consciousness  that  as  a  man  dealt 
with  his  fellow  men  so  would  God  deal  with 
him,  is  found  in  Judges  i.  6,  7,  and  the  reflec- 
tion on  this  point  is,  strangely  enough,  put 
in  the  mouth  of  a  Canaanitish  king  Adoni- 
bezek :  "  And  Adoni-bezek  fled,  and  they 
pursued  after  him  and  caught  him,  and  cut 
off  his  thumbs  and  his  great  toes.  And 
Adoni-bezek  said  :  Threescore  and  ten  kings 
having  their  thumbs  and  their  great  toes  cut 
off  gathered  their  meat  under  my  table :  as 

1  have  done,  so  God  hath  requited  me."  The 
primitive  human  law  of  exact  retaliation,  eye 
for  eye,  tooth  for  tooth,  life  for  life,  is  here 
described  as  the  law  of  divine  procedure. 
In  Exod.  xxi.  23  seqq.  this  law  is  to  be  ob- 
served by  the  judges  in  Israel.  In  the  hands 
of  the  late  scribes  and  legalists  this  law  was 
often  crassly  conceived,  and  in  Jubilees  and 

2  Maccabees  the  history  of  the  deaths  of 
notable  evildoers  is  often  rewritten  so  as  to 
furnish  examples  of  this  law  of  retribution. 
Spiritually  conceived,  it  represents  a  pro- 
found religious  truth  enunciated  repeatedly 
in  the  New  Testament.  But  to  return,  this 
doctrine,  that  with  what  measure  we  mete  it 
is  measured  to  us  again,  is  found  in  Ps.  xviii. 
25  seq. : 


136     RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

1  With  the  merciful  Thou  wilt  show  Thyself 

merciful  .  .  . 
With  the  pure  Thou  wilt  show  Thyself  pure, 
And   with   the   perverse   Thou   wilt   show 

Thyself  fro  ward." 

II.  The  belief  in  such  a  connection  between 
a  man's  treatment  of  his  neighbour  and  his 
treatment  by  God  is  sufficient  to  explain  the 
use  of  such  negative  commands  as  Prov.  xx, 
22: 

"  Say  not  thou,  I  will  recompense  evil : 
Wait  on  the  Lord  and  He  shall  save  thee." 

Or  in  Prov.  xxiv.  29  : 

"  Say  not,  I  will  do  to  him  as  he  hath  done  to 
me; 
I  will  render  to  the  man  according  to  his 
work." 

Or  in  Job  xxxi.  29  seq. : 

"  If  I  rejoiced  at  the  destruction  of  him  that 
hated  me, 

Or  lifted  up  myself  when  evil  found  him; 

Yea,  I  suffered  not  my  mouth  to  sin 

By  asking  his  life  with  a  curse." 
i 
These  precepts  are  noteworthy  since  they  are 
opposed  to  the  principle  of  retaliation  in  itself, 
and  that  at  a  time  when  such  a  principle  was 
universally  current. 


FORGIVING  ONE'S  NEIGHBOUR    137 

III.  But  there  are  one  or  two  notable 
passages  that  go  beyond  these  and  contain 
positive  commands  that  when  we  find  our 
enemy  in  difficulty  or  distress  we  are  to  help 
him.  Thus  it  is  enjoined  in  Exod.  xxiii. 
4,  5  :  "If  thou  meet  thine  enemy's  ox  or  his 
ass  going  astray,  thou  shalt  surely  bring  it 
back  to  him  again.  If  thou  see  the  ass  of 
him  that  hateth  thee  lying  under  its  burthen, 
and  wouldest  forbear  to  help  him,  thou  shalt 
surely  help  with  him."  *  And  again  in  Pro  v. 
xxv.  21,  22  : 

"  If  thine  enemy  be  hungry,  give  him  bread 

to  eat, 
And  if  he  be  thirsty,  give  him  water  to 

drink ; 
For  thou  shalt  heap  coals  of  fire  upon  his 

head, 
And  the  Lord  shall  reward  thee." 

This  last  noble  passage,  however,  occurs  in 
close  proximity  to  a  vile  direction,  that  a  man 
was  not  to  rejoice  over  the  affliction  of  an 
enemy  lest  God  should  see  it  and  remove  the 
affliction.  And  yet  this  base  precept  implies 
the  existence  of  a  higher  one,  that  a  man 
should  not  rejoice  over  a  fallen  enemy's 
misfortunes. 

1  These  words  are  used  simply  in  relation  to  a  neighbour, 
not  an  enemy,  in  Deut.  xxii.  1-3. 


138      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

IV.  But  the  Old  Testament  ethics  reaches 
its  highest  point  of  development  in  Lev.  xix. 
17-18,  a  passage  the  importance  of  which 
it  would  be  hard  to  exaggerate. 

This  passage  runs  :  "  Thou  shalt  not  hate 
thy  brother  in  thine  heart :  thou  shalt  surely 
rebuke  thy  neighbour,  and  not  bear  sin  be- 
cause of  him.  Thou  shalt  not  take  vengeance 
nor  bear  grudge  against  the  children  of  thy 
people,  but  thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as 
thyself." 

Here  all  hatred  of  a  brother  is  forbidden. 
In  case  a  man's  neighbour  does  a  wrong  he  is 
to  admonish  him.  If  he  has  himself  suffered 
a  wrong,  he  is  not  to  avenge  himself  on  his 
neighbour,  but  to  love  him  as  himself.  We 
have  here  a  true  foundation  for  subsequent 
ethical  development  on  the  subject  of  forgive- 
ness. It  is  true  that  the  sphere  of  the  precept 
is  limited  here  absolutely  to  Israelites  or  to 
such  strangers  or  gerim  as  had  taken  upon  them- 
selves the  yoke  of  the  Law.  Neighbour  here 
means  an  Israelite  or  Jew.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  passage  is  epoch-making,  and  served 
in  some  degree  to  fashion  the  highest  pro- 
nouncement on  forgiveness  in  later  Judaism 
that  we  find  in  the  Testaments  of  the  XII. 
Patriarchs. 

V.  Finally,  we  have  the. notable  instance 


FORGIVING  ONE'S  NEIGHBOUR    139 

of  Joseph's  forgiveness  of  his  brethren;  but 
this  act  of  grace  on  Joseph's  part  does  not 
seem  to  have  impressed  later  Old  Testament 
writers,  or  led  them  to  urge  Joseph's  conduct 
as  worthy  herein  of  imitation. 

We  have  now  given  practically  all  the  higher 
teaching  on  forgiveness  in  the  Old  Testament ; 
but  side  by  side  with  this  higher  teaching  there 
are  statements  of  a  very  different  character, 
which  exhibit  the  unforgiving  temper  in  various 
degrees  of  intensity.  Our  classification  of 
them  is  logical  rather  than  chronological. 

I.  In  the  first  stage  this  temper  manifests 
itself  in  a  most  unblushing  and  positive 
manner  in  one  of  the  Psalms,  where  the 
righteous  man  prays  to  Yahweh  to  make  him 
strong  enough  to  pay  out  his  enemies  :  "  Do 
thou,  O  Lord,  have  mercy  upon  me,  and  raise 
me  up  that  I  may  requite  them  "  (Ps.  xli.  10). 
Side  by  side  with  this  prayer  we  might  place 
the  unforgiving  spirit  of  David — the  man  after 
God's  own  heart — when  on  his  death-bed  he 
charged  Solomon  not  to  let  Joab's  hoar  head 
go  down  to  the  grave  in  peace;  and  com- 
manded him  to  deal  similarly  with  Shimei, 
though  David  had  promised  to  preserve 
Shimei's  life. 

II.  But  this  thirst  for  immediate  personal 
vengeance   could   not,    unless   exceptionally, 


140      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

indulge  itself  when  once  order  and  law  were 
established  in  the  land.  The  person  wronged 
could  take  to  heart  the  words  of  the  Deu- 
teronomist,  that  God  would  "  avenge  the 
blood  of  His  servants  "  (xxxii.  43),  for  that 
"  Vengeance  is  Mine  and  recompence  "  (xxxii. 
35),  and  so  might  relinquish  the  desire  of 
personally  executing  the  vengeance;  but  if 
so,  then  in  many  instances  he  prayed  all  the 
more  vehemently  for  God  to  undertake  the 
vengeance  for  him.  Under  this  heading 
comes  the  most  appalling  exhibition  of  vin- 
dictiveness  to  be  found  in  religious  literature, 
i.  e.  the  Imprecatory  Psalms.1  No  amount  of 
explaining  away  or  allegorising  can  excise 
the  malignant  venom  in  these  productions; 
nor  in  such  utterances  as  Ps.  cxxxvii., 
where  the  writer  in  his  fury  against  Babylon 
declareth  :  "  Happy  shall  he  be  that  taketh 
and  dasheth  thy  little  ones  against  the  rock." 
The  use  of  such  Psalms  in  Christian  worship 
cannot  be  justified.2  And  yet  the  faithful 
Jew  felt  no  hesitation  in  believing  that  God 
would  fulfil  such  prayers.     He  writes : 

1  Even  in  Judaism  the  Imprecatory  Psalms  are  not 
used  in  Public  Worship. 

2  We  might  oompare  with  the  Jewish  imprecations  the 
Irish  curse  :  "  May  you  always  see  the  right  and  pursue 
the  wrong."  But  this  curse  is  feeble  compared  with  the 
Psalmist's  malediotions. 


FORGIVING  ONE'S  NEIGHBOUR    141 

"  God  is  mine  helper ; 

The  Lord  is  of  them  that  uphold  my  soul : 

He  shall  requite  the  evil  unto  mine  enemies," 

and  then  closes  the  Psalm  with  the  expression 
of  sated  vengeance : 

"  Mine  eye  hath  seen  my  desire  upon  mine 

enemies"  (Ps.  liv.  4,  5,  7). 

Or  again  in  cxviii.  7  : 

"  The  Lord  is  on  my  side  among  them  that 
help  me: 
Therefore  shall  I  see  my  desire  uuon  them 
that  hate  me." 

This  revengeful  temper  is  ascribed  to  the 
ideal  righteous  man  by  the  Psalmist  in  cxii. 
9,8. 

9.  "  He  hath  dispersed,  he  hath  given  to  the 
needy ; 
His  righteousness  endureth  for  ever." 
8.  "  His  heart  is  established,  he  shall  not  be 
afraid, 
Until  he  see  his  desire  upon  his  adver- 
saries." 

These  passages  more  than  justify  our  Lord's 
summary  of  the  teaching  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment on  this  question  in  Matt.  v.  43.  "Ye 
have  heard  that  it  was  said,  Thou  shalt  love 
thy  neighbour,  and  hate  thine  enemy" 

III.  But  as  time  went  on  the  teaching  of 


142      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

the  nobler  spirits  began  to  make  itself  felt, 
and  so  the  faithful  came  to  feel  that  there  was 
something  wrong  in  the  vindictive  spirit  in 
itself  and  in  its  joy  over  an  enemy's  mis- 
fortune. We  have  already  given  some  pas- 
sages attesting  such  a  higher  temper,  but  I 
shall  quote  still  another,  and  that  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  in  the  Old  Testament  for  its 
distorted  ethics  : 

"  Rejoice  not  when  thine  enemy  falleth, 

And  let  not  thy  heart  be  glad  when  he  is 

overthrown, 

Lest  the  Lord  see  it  and  it  displease  Him, 

And  he  turn  away  His  wrath  from  him." 

Prov.  xxiv.  17,  18. 
i 

Here  we  are  bidden  not  to  rejoice  over  an  enemy's 
overthrow  lest  God  see  our  malicious  joy  and  so 
restore  our  enemy  to  prosperity.  Though  this 
precept  shows  an  ethical  advance  on  the  part 
of  some  circle  in  the  community — a  conscious- 
ness that  vindictive  rejoicing  over  an  enemy's 
fall  is  wrong — yet  the  temper  of  the  man  who 
gave  this  precept  and  of  him  who  observed 
it  is  immeasurably  lower  than  that  of  the 
plain  man  who  prayed  bluntly  to  God  to  raise 
him  up  that  he  might  pay  off  old  scores 
against  his  enemy. 

From  the  two  conflicting  series  of  passages 
on  forgiveness  we  have  now  dealt  with,  we 


FORGIVING   ONE'S   NEIGHBOUR     143 

see  that  there  was  no  such  thing  as  a  pre- 
scribed and  unquestioned  doctrine  of  forgive- 
ness in  the  Old  Testament,  and  that  a  Jew, 
however  he  chose  to  act  towards  his  personal 
enemy,  could  justify  his  conduct  from  his 
sacred  writings.  It  is  easy  to  deduce  the 
natural  consequences  of  such  a  state  of  ethical 
confusion. 

When  a  man,  and  that,  too,  a  good  man,  has 
suffered  wrong,  his  usual  course  is  not  to  ask 
what  is  the  very  highest  and  noblest  line  of 
conduct  he  could  take  towards  his  enemy,  but 
generally  what  is  the  least  exacting  and  yet 
ethically  acceptable  amongst  his  orthodox 
contemporaries.  And  in  a  book  where  every 
jot  and  tittle  was  equally  authoritative,  if  he 
chose  the  precepts  that  accorded  best  with 
his  personal  feelings,  how  could  he  be  blamed  ? 
If  he  chose  to  indulge  his  personal  animosities, 
he  could  do  so  without  forfeiting  his  own  self- 
respect  or  that  of  the  religious  leaders  of  the 
community;  for  he  could  support  his  action 
by  sanctions  drawn  from  sacred  Psalmist  and 
sainted  hero.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  if  he 
were  an  exceptionally  spiritually  minded 
man  he  could  not  fail  to  recognise  the  fact 
that  there  were  a  few  Old  Testament  passages 
that  conflicted  with  his  natural  feelings ;  and 
if  he  were  an  exceptionally  good  man,   he 


144     RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

might  forgo  his  desire  of  vengeance;  as  no 
doubt  many  an  Israelite  did,  and  render  actual 
positive  help  to  a  Jewish  enemy  in  distress. 
But  to  good  Israelites  generally  such  isolated 
precepts  were  only  counsels  of  perfection,  and 
their  fulfilment  could  not  be  held  necessary 
to  salvation,  nor  could  they  be  said  to  possess 
any  higher  objective  authority  than  those 
precepts  and  examples  that  conflicted  with 
them  in  the  same  sacred  books.  With  these 
isolated  teachings,  which  represent  only  the 
highest  the  Old  Testament  was  striving  to- 
wards, let  us  compare  a  few  of  those  which  are 
characteristic  of  and  central  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. 

"  Forgive  us  our  debts,  as  we  also  have  for- 
given our  debtors.  .  .  .  For  if  ye  forgive  men 
their  trespasses,  your  heavenly  Father  will 
also  forgive  you.  But  if  ye  forgive  not  men 
their  trespasses,  neither  will  your  Father 
forgive  your  trespasses  "  (Matt.  vi.  12,  14, 15). 

"  Whensoever  ye  stand  praying,  forgive, 
if  ye  have  aught  against  any  one,  that  your 
Father  also  which  is  in  heaven  may  forgive 
you  your  trespasses  "  (Mark  xi.  25,  26). 

"  Be  not  overcome  of  evil,  but  overcome  evil 
with  good  "  (Rom.  xii.  21). 

"  Love  your  enemies,  do  good  to  them  that 
hate  you,  bless  them  that  curse  you,  pray  for 


FORGIVING  ONE'S  NEIGHBOUR    145 

them  that  despitefully  use  you.  .  .  .  And  as 
ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye 
also  to  them  likewise.  .  .  .  And  ye  shall  be 
sons  of  the  Most  High :  for  He  is  kind  toward 
the  unthankful  and  evil  "  (Luke  vi.  27,  28, 
31,  35). 

"  How  oft  shall  my  brother  sin  against 
me  and  I  forgive  him  ?  Until  seven  times  ? 
Jesus  saith  unto  him  :  I  say  not  unto  thee 
Until  seven  times;  but  Until  seventy  times 
seven  "  (Matt,  xviii.  21,  22) 

"  If  thy  brother  sin  against  thee,  go,  show 
him  his  fault  between  thee  and  him  alone: 
if  he  hear  thee,  thou  hast  gained  thy  brother  " 
(Matt,  xviii.  15). 

"  If  thy  brother  sin,  rebuke  him ;  and  if  he 
repent,  forgive  him.  And  if  he  sin  against 
thee  seven  times  in  a  day,  and  seven  times 
turn  again  to  thee,  saying,  I  repent,  thou 
shalt  forgive  him  "  (Luke  xvii.  3,  4). 

"  Let  all  bitterness,  and  wrath,  and  anger, 
and  clamour,  and  railing  be  put  away  from 
you,  with  all  malice  :  and  be  ye  kind  one 
to  another,  tender-hearted,  forgiving  one  an- 
other, even  as  God  also  in  Christ  forgave  you  " 
(Eph.  iv.  31,  32). 

"  Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said :  Thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbour,  and  hate  thine 
enemy;     but   I    say   unto   you,    Love   your 

K 


146      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

enemies,  and  pray  for  them  that  persecute 
you ;  that  ye  may  be  the  sons  of  your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven;  for  He  maketh  His  sun 
to  rise  on  the  evil  and  the  good,  and  sendeth 
rain  on  the  just  and  the  unjust"  (Matt.  v. 
43-45). 

Let  us  now  contrast  in  a  few  words  the 
teaching  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  and 
herein  accept  only  that  which  is  highest  in  the 
former.  First,  whereas  the  Old  Testament  in 
a  few  passages  denounces  the  cherishing  or 
manifestation  of  personal  resentment  against 
a  fellow  countryman,  the  New  Testament 
requires  universally  the  annihilation  of  the 
passion  itself  as  regards  fellow  countrymen 
and  strangers.  Again,  while  in  two  or  more 
passages  the  Old  Testament  inculcates  that 
a  man  should  do  positive  kindness  to  a  hostile 
fellow  countryman  when  in  distress,  the  New 
Testament  everywhere  explicitly  and  im- 
plicitly requires  him  to  render  such  services, 
whether  the  wrongdoer  be  Christian  or  non- 
Christian,  prosperous  or  the  reverse. 

We  have  now  before  us  the  startling  con- 
trast which  the  teachings  on  forgiveness  in  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  present.  How  are 
we  to  explain  it  ?  In  the  past  some  scholars 
have  ignored  the  question,  while  others  have 
regarded    the    New    Testament    doctrine    of 


FORGIVING  ONE'S  NEIGHBOUR    147 

forgiveness  as  a  wholly  original  contribution 
of  Christianity.  But  such  a  view  is  no  longer 
possible,  now  that  recent  research  has  brought 
to  light  the  evidence  of  the  apocryphal  and 
apocalyptic  books  on  this  and-  other  New 
Testament  subjects. 

A  study  of  the  literature  that  comes  between 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments  shows  that  there  f 
was  a  steady  development  in  every  depart-!' 
ment  of  religious  thought  in  the  centuries 
immediately  preceding  the  Christian  era. 
This  fact  has  already  been  fully  recognised 
in  the  department  of  eschatology.  And  on 
the  doctrine  of  forgiveness  new  light  has  come 
through  a  critical  study  of  the  Testaments  of 
the  XII.  Patriarchs.  However,  before  we 
discuss  the  bearing  of  this  work  on  the  develop- 
ment of  this  doctrine,  we  must  deal  with  a 
noteworthy  section  in  Sirach  xxvii.  30  to 
xxviii.  7,  which  attests  some  advance  on  the 
Old  Testament  doctrine  and  yet  one  not  so 
advanced  as  that  in  the  Testaments.  In 
xxviii.  3-5  Sirach  teaches  the  duty  of  for- 
giveness, but  in  the  main  as  a  measure  of 
prudence.  Forgiveness  is  befitting  the  frailty 
of  sinful  man,  he  urges : 

"  Man  cherisheth  anger  against  anotheJ 
And  doth  he  seek  healing  from  God  ? 


148      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

On  a  man  like  himself  he  hath  no  mercy, 
And  doth  he  make  supplication  for  his  own 

sins? 
He  being  flesh  nourisheth  wrath  : 
Who  will  make  atonement  for  his  sins  ?  " 

(xxviii.  3-5.) 

This  advice  is  good,  but  strikes  no  very  lofty 
note.  Verses  1,  2,  6-7,  are,  however,  some 
advance  on  Old  Testament  doctrine. 

"  He  that  taketh  vengeance  shall  find  ven- 
geance from  the  Lord, 

And  his  sins  He  will  assuredly  keep  in 
remembrance. 

Forgive  thy  neighbour  the  injury  done  unto 
thee, 

And  then  when  thou  prayest  thy  sins  will 
be  forgiven.  .  .  .* 

Remember  thy  last  end  and  cease  from 
enmity, 

.  .  .  And  be  not  wroth  with  thy  neighbour." 

Here  the  doctrine  of  divine  retribution  makes 
more  explicit  the  teaching  of  the  Psalmist : 

"  With  the  merciful  thou  shalt  show  thyself 
merciful." 

1  This  furnishes  an  interesting  anticipation  of  Mark  xi. 
25  :  "  When  ye  stand  praying,  forgive,  if  ye  have  aught 
against  any  one ;  that  your  Father  also  which  is  in  heaven 
may  forgive  you  your  trespasses." 


FORGIVING  ONE'S  NEIGHBOUR    149 

Moreover,  it  is  now  clearly  implied  that  for- 
giveness is  better  in  itself  than  vengeance; 
and  that  a  man  should  forgo  wrath  against  his 
neighbour,  for  that  the  Jew  who  forgives  *his 
neighbour  is  forgiven  of  God.  The  recurrence 
of  this  teaching  in  later  purely  Jewish  sources 
confirms  the  genuineness  of  the  passage  in 
Sirach,  and  proves  that  Jewish  thought  on  the 
subject  of  forgiveness  was  developing  on  the 
highest  lines  laid  down  in  the  Old  Testament. 
In  Philo  (De  Humanitate  15)  a  high  note  is 
adopted  where,  he  speaks  of  the  Law  "  teaching 
men  by  remote  examples  not  to  be  delighted 
at  the  unexpected  misfortunes  of  those  that 
hate  them,"  and  further  points  out  that  if  a 
man  confers  a  favour  on  his  enemy  there 
"  follows  of  necessity  a  dissolution  of  the 
enmity." 

A  less  noble  note  is  struck  in  2  Enoch  1. 
4  (A),  "  If  ill  requitals  befal  you  return  them 
not  to  neighbour  or  enemy,  because  the  Lord 
will  return  them  for  you  and  be  your  avenger 
on  the  day  of  great  judgment." 

We  might  here  quote  some  very  fine  sayings 
on  this  subject  from  the  Talmud.  "  If  a 
friend  be  in  need  of  aid  to  unload  a  burden, 
and  an  enemy  to  help  him  to  load,  one  is 
commanded  to  help  his  enemy  in  order  to 
overcome  his  evil  inclination  "  (Baba   Mezia 


150      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

32).  Again,  "  Be  amongst  the  number  of  the 
persecuted,  not  of  the  persecutors  "  (Baba 
Qama  93b).  Again,  "  Who  is  strong  ?  He 
who  turns  an  enemy  into  an  friend  "  (Ab.  R.N. 
xxiii).  And  again  the  saying  of  Rab  in  Rosh 
ha  Shanah  17a  :  "  Whom  does  God  pardon  ? 
The  man  who  passes  by  transgression,"  and 
another  of  Rab's  which  is  repeated  four  times  : 
Joma  23a,  876,  Meg.  28a  Rosh  ha  Shanah  17a  : 
"  If  a  man  is  forbearing  (or  "  forgiving  "), 
all  his  transgressions  are  treated  with  for- 
bearance "  (or  "  forgiven  "). 

These  sayings  belong  to  a  much  later  period 
than  that  we  are  dealing  with.  They  are, 
however,  valuable,  as  we  have  already  ob- 
served, as  evidence  that  Jewish  sages  were 
developing  the  best  elements  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  advancing  to  conceptions  of 
forgiveness  that  would  have  been  unintelligible 
to  most  Old  Testament  saints. 

Before  we  leave  Sirach  we  might  remark 
that  on  the  whole  we  must  regard  this  section 
on  forgiveness  as  enforcing  the  wisdom  or 
prudence  of  forgiveness,  if  we  are  to  interpret 
it  in  keeping  with  the  practically  universal 
tone  of  that  author.  Notwithstanding  it  is 
some  advance  on  Old  Testament  teaching, 
and  forms  in  a  slight  degree  a  preparatory 
stage  for  that  of  the  New  Testament.  That 
Judaism  after  the  rise  of  Christianity  did  not 


FORGIVING  ONE'S  NEIGHBOUR    151 

stop  at  this  immature  stage  I  have  already 
shown.  It  must  be  concluded,  however,  that 
forgiveness  is  only  incidentally  dealt  with  in 
Talmudic  writings,1  and  is  not  made  the  central 

1  Objection  has  been  taken  to  this  conclusion  by  a  Jewish 
scholar,  who  maintains  "  a  whole  side  of  the  Rabbinic 
doctrine  of  Atonement  is  based  on  the  readiness  of  the  re- 
pentant sinner  to  make  restitution  when  he  has  wronged 
another,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  to  forgive  when  he  has  been 
wronged."  "  In  order  to  see  this,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
study  consecutively  the  last  few  pages  (say  from  p.  85 
onwards)  of  the  Talmudic  tract  Yoma  (Day  of  Atonement), 
or  p.  92  seq.  of  tractate  Baba  Qama  (Cambridge  Biblical 
Essays,  1909,  p.  165  seq.y  Now  since  this  is  an  important 
question  of  fact,  let  us  accept  this  scholar's  challenge  and 
study  the  sections  of  the  Talmud  he  commends  to  our 
attention,  i.  e.  portions  of  the  tractates  Yoma  and  Baba 
Qama. 

In  the  sections  referred  to  in  the  latter  tractate,  there  is 
nothing  relevant  to  the  subject.  There  is,  indeed,  a 
sentence  or  two  to  the  effect  that  when  a  man  wrongs 
another,  he  cannot  be  forgiven  unless  he  makes  restitution 
and  begs  his  pardon.  But  what  we  have  here  to  do  with 
is  not  the  forgiveness  which  a  man  supplicates  from  his 
neighbour,  but  the  forgiveness  which  he  accords  to  him. 

So  much  for  the  Baba  Qama.  Let  us  now  turn  to  the 
tractate  Yoma.  Since  this  tractate  has  for  its  subject  the 
Day  of  Atonement  and  all  the  ritual  and  significance  of 
this  great  festival,  we  should  naturally  expect  to  find  the 
question  of  forgiveness  treated  in  great  fulness,  and 
that,  not  only  God's  forgiveness  of  man,  but  also  man's 
forgiveness  of  his  neighbour.  Now,  if  we  would  estimate 
aright  the  evidence  of  the  tractate  in  this  latter  respect, 
we  can  perhaps  do  so  best  by  considering  the  Mishna 
and  the  Gemara  of  this  tractate  separately.  First,  then, 
as  regards  the  Mishna.  In  this  section  of  the  Mishna 
there  are  close  on  3000  Hebrew  words. 

Of  these  3000  words,  which  deal  with  the  ritual  of  the 
Day  of  Atonement,  the  three  confessions  of  sin  made  by 


152     RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

doctrine  of  the  religious  life  that  it  is  in  the 
New  Testament. 

the  high  priest  on  his  own  behalf,  on  behalf  of  the  priest- 
hood and  on  behalf  of  the  people,  what  proportion  of 
them  deal  with  a  man's  forgiveness  of  his  neighbour? 
Not  a  single  word  !  On  the  forgiveness  a  man  is  to  seek 
from  his  neighbour  there  is  just  one  clause  of  twelve 
words  repeated  twice  in  the  same  context :  Yoma  viii.  7, 
"  The  Day  of  Atonement  does  not  atone  for  a  man's  sins, 
till  he  obtains  his  neighbour's  forgiveness." 

From  the  Mishna  let  us  now  turn  to  the  Gemara  of  the 
tract  Yoma.  On  87a  Rabbi  Isaac  insists  that  when  a 
man  has  wronged  his  neighbour,  though  only  in  word, 
he  should  try  to  propitiate  him.  A  few  lines  later,  and 
on  876,  Rabbi  Jose  ben  Hanina  says  that  he  should  not 
do  this  more  than  three  times.  This  is  noble  advice,  but 
it  is  not  relevant  to  our  subject. 

There  are,  however,  on  866  and  87a  some  passages 
which  have  for  their  theme  a  man's  forgiveness  of  his 
neighbour.  Thus  on  87a  Rabbi  Zera  and  Rab  are  said  to 
have  gone  to  persons  who  wronged  them,  to  prevail  on 
them  to  seek  pardon  for  the  wrong  done.  In  the  case  of 
Rab  this  was  before  the  Day  of  Atonement.  With  these 
passages  we  might  compare  Matt,  xviii.  15.  Only  one 
other  passage  calls  for  consideration.  On  866  Rabbi 
Jose  ben  Judah  says  that  a  man  may  forgive  his  neighbour 
three  times  but  not  more,  and  in  support  of  this  limitation 
he  quotes  Amos  ii.  6.  With  this  teaching  we  might 
contrast  that  in  Matt,  xviii.  21,  22. 

It  thus  appears  that  the  doctrine  of  the  forgiveness 
of  our  neighbour  is  only  incidentally  dealt  with.  And 
yet  since  according  to  the  Old  Testament — the  sole  in- 
spired authority  in  Judaism — it  was  possible  for  a  man 
to  justify  his  refusal  to  forgive  his  neighbour  and  yet 
believe  that  he  himself  was  forgiven  by  God,  there  waw 
unquestionably  the  need  of  definite  higher  teaching  which 
should  be  at  once  central  and  authoritative.  So  far  as  I 
am  aware  this  need  has  never  been  formally  satisfied  in 
Judaism.     Not  a  single  clause  in  the  Shemoneh  Esrah 


FORGIVING  ONE'S  NEIGHBOUR    153 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  a  genuine 
Jewish  work  of  the  second  century  B.C.  in 
which  a  doctrine  of  forgiveness  is  taught 
that  infinitely  transcends  the  teaching  of 
Sirach,  and  is  almost  as  noble  as  that  of  the 
New  Testament.  Moreover,  this  doctrine  of 
forgiveness  does  not  stand  as  an  isolated 
glory  in  the  Testaments  of  the  XII.  Patriarchs 
as  in  other  Jewish  writings,  but  is  in  keeping 
with  the  entire  ethical  character  of  that  re- 
markable book,  which  proclaims  in  an  ethical 
setting  that  God  created  man  in  His  own 
image,  that  the  law  was  given  to  lighten  every 
man,  that  salvation  was  for  all  mankind 
through  conversion  to  Judaism,  and  that  a 
man  should  love  both  God  and  his  neighbour. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  this  book  and  to  the 
section  in  it  which  formulates  the  most  re- 
markable statement  in  pre-Christian  Judaism 
on  the  subject  of  forgiveness. 

Test.  Gad  vi.  3.  "  Love  ye  one  another 
from  the  heart ;  and  if  a  man  sin  against  thee, 
cast  forth  the  poison  of  hate  and  speak 
peaceably  to  him,  and  in  thy  soul  hold  not 
guile;  and  if  he  confess  and  repent,  forgive 
him.     4.  But  if  he  deny  it,  do  not  get  into 

(a.d.  70-100)  deals  with  it,  and  save  in  the  services  on 
the  Day  of  Atonement,  it  is  barely  touched  on  in  the 
Modern  Jewish  Prayer  Book. 


154      RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

a  passion  with  him,  lest  catching  the  poison 
from  thee  he  take  to  swearing,  and  so  thou 
sin  doubly.  6.  And  though  he  deny  it  and 
yet  have  a  sense  of  shame  when  reproved, 
give  over  reproving  him.  For  he  who  denieth 
may  repent  so  as  not  again  to  wrong  thee  : 
yea,  he  may  also  honour  and  be  at  peace  with 
thee.  7.  But  if  he  be  shameless  and  persist 
in  his  wrongdoing,  even  so  forgive  him  from 
the  heart,  and  leave  to  God 'the  avenging." 

These  verses  show  a  wonderful  insight  into 
the  true  psychology  of  the  question.  So 
perfect  are  the  parallels  in  thought  and  diction 
between  these  verses  and  Luke  xvii.  3,  Matt, 
xviii.  15,  35,  that  we  cannot  but  assume  our 
Lord's  acquaintance  with  them.  The  meaning 
of  forgiveness  in  both  cases  is  the  highest  and 
noblest  known  to  us,  namely,  the  restoring 
the  offender  to  communion  with  us,  which 
he  had  forfeited  through  his  offence.  And 
this  is  likewise  the  essence  of  the  divine  for- 
giveness— God's  restoration  of  the  sinner  to 
communion  with  Him,  a  communion  from 
which  his  sin  had  banished  him.  But  our 
author  shows  that  it  is  not  always  possible 
for  the  offended  man  to  compass  such  a  perfect 
relation  with  the  offender,  and  yet  that  the 
offended,  however  the  offender  may  act,  can 
always  practise   forgiveness   in  a   very  real 


FORGIVING  ONE'S  NEIGHBOUR    155 

though  in  a  limited  sense.  He  can  get  rid  of 
the  feeling  of  personal  wrong,  and  take  up  a 
right  and  sympathetic  attitude  to  the  offender, 
though  he  cannot  but  reprobate  his  conduct. 
Thus  forgiveness  in  this  sense  is  synonymous 
with  banishing  the  feeling  of  personal  resent- 
ment, which  arises  naturally  within  us  when 
we  suffer  wrong,  and  which,  if  indulged,  leads 
to  hate.  When  we  have  achieved  this  right 
attitude  towards  the  offender,  the  way  is  open 
for  his  return  to  a  right  relation  with  us, 
which  of  course  can  only  be  effected,  when 
he  admits  his  wrong-doing.  Moreover,  so  far 
as  we  attain  this  right  attitude,  we  reflect  the 
attitude  of  God  Himself  universally  to  His 
erring  children. 

This  is  the  first  and  essential  duty  in  all  true 
forgiveness,  and  it  is  often  all  that  a  man  can 
compass;  and  apparently  the  divine  for- 
giveness has  analogous  limitations — at  all 
events,  within  the  sphere  of  the  present  life. 

Returning  now  to  our  text,  we  can  better 
appreciate  the  thought  of  our  author.  If  a 
man  does  you  a  wrong,  you  are  first  of  all  to  get 
rid  of  the  feeling  of  resentment  and  then  to 
speak  gently  to  him  about  his  offence.  If  he 
admit  his  offence  and  repent,  you  are  to  for- 
give him.  But  if  he  refuse  to  admit  his 
offence,  there  is  one  thing  you  must  not  do : 


156     RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

you  must  not  lose  your  temper  lest  he  get 
infected  by  your  angry  feelings  and  in  addition 
to  his  wronging  he  take  to  cursing  you  as  well, 
and  thus  you  become  guilty  of  a  double  sin — 
his  unbridled  passion  and  his  aggravated  guilt. 
In  such  a  case,  therefore,  you  must  refrain 
from  further  reproof;  for  one  of  two  things 
will  take  place.  The  offender,  though  out- 
wardly denying  his  guilt,  will,  when  he  is  re- 
proved, feel  a  sense  of  shame  or  he  will  not. 
If  he  feels  a  sense  of  shame,  he  may  repent 
and  honour  you  and  be  at  peace  with  you. 
But  if  he  have  no  sense  of  shame  and  persist 
in  his  wrong  attitude  to  you,  he  must  in  that 
case  be  left  to  God. 

It  would  be  hard  to  exaggerate  the  import- 
ance of  this  passage.  It  proves  that  in 
Galilee,  the  home  of  the  Testaments  of  the 
XII.  Patriarchs  and  of  other  apocalyptic 
writings,  there  was  in  the  second  century 
B.C.  a  deep  spiritual  religious  life,  which 
having  assimilated  the  highest  teaching  of 
the  Old  Testament  on  forgiveness,  developed 
and  consolidated  it  into  a  clear,  consistent 
doctrine,  that  could  neither  be  ignored  nor 
misunderstood  by  spiritually  minded  men. 
This  religious  development  appears  to  have 
flourished  mainly  in  Galilee.  The  section  on 
forgiveness  in  Sirach  is  little  better  than  a 


FORGIVING  ONE'S  NEIGHBOUR    157 

backwater  from  the  main  current  of  this  de- 
velopment, and  is  of  importance  as  showing 
that  even  the  Sadducean  priest  and  cultured 
man  of  the  world  could  not  wholly  escape 
the  influence  of  this  bounding  spiritual  life 
that  had  its  home  in  Galilee. 

But  the  teaching  of  the  Testaments  of  the 
XII.  Patriarchs  was  never  accepted  officially 
or  otherwise  by  the  Pharisees.  It  was  never 
authoritative  save  in  certain  circles  of  Phari- 
saic mystics,  who  must  in  due  time  have 
found  a  congenial  home  in  the  bosom  of  the 
rising  Christian  Church.  So  little  did  the 
Pharisaic  legalists — the  dominating  power  in 
Pharisaism — appreciate  this  work  that  they 
did  not  think  it  even  worth  preserving.  For 
its  preservation  the  world  is  indebted  to  the 
Christian  Church. 

It  is  further  significant  that  it  was  not  from 
Judea,  the  stronghold  of  Pharisaic  legalism, 
but  from  Galilee,  the  land  of  the  religious 
mystic  and  seer,  that  Christ  and  eleven  of  His 
apostles  derived  their  origin  and  their  religious 
culture.  r  '..-■ 

We  shall  not  be  surprised,  therefore,  that 
when  we  come  to  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
we  find  the  teaching  of  the  Testaments  is 
accepted — accepted  and  yet  lifted  into  a 
higher  plane,  and  the  doctrine  of  forgiveness 


158      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

carried  to  its  final  stage  of  development. 
We  are  to  cherish  the  spirit  of  forgiveness 
towards  those  that  have  wronged  us,  for  two 
reasons.  First,  because  such  is  and  always 
has  been  God's  spirit  towards  man;  and 
secondly,  because  such  must  be  our  spirit 
if  we  are  truly  to  be  His  sons.  By  having 
God's  spirit  we  show  our  kinship  with  God. 
"  Love  your  enemies,  and  pray  for  them  that 
persecute  you,  that  so  you  may  be  sons  of 
your  Father  in  heaven;  for  He  maketh  His 
sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and 
sendeth  His  rain  on  the  just  and  on  the  un- 
just." And  this  forgiveness  He  has  proclaimed 
through  His  Son,  as  St.  Paul  teaches  :  "  For- 
giving one  another,  even  as  God  in  Christ  hath 
forgiven  you." 

Thus  divine  and  human  forgiveness,  being 
the  same  in  kind  though  differing  in  degree, 
are  linked  indissolubly  together,  and  in  the 
heart  of  the  prayer  given  for  the  use  of  all 
men  are  set  the  words  which  own  this  trans- 
cendent duty,  "  Forgive  us  our  trespasses,  as 
we  forgive  them  that  trespass  against  us." 
The  man  who  forgives  his  enemy  is  himself 
so  far  forgiven  of  God,  and  has  therein,  what- 
ever his  Church  may  be,  shown  his  essential 
kinship  with  God. 


REINTERPRETATION  159 

CHAPTER  VI 

REINTERPRETATION   AND    COMPREHENSION 

One  of  the  strongest  impressions  experienced 
by  the  reader  who  studies  in  their  historical 
order  the  Canonical  and  non-Canonical  Books 
of  the  Old  Testament  is  the  consciousness  of 
the  continuous,  and  in  most  instances  the 
progressive,  reinterpretation  of  traditional  be- 
liefs and  symbols.  This  holds  true  alike  of 
the  most  sacred  and  fundamental  conceptions 
of  Judaism  as  of  its  less  essential  elements. 
Thus  the  modern  theologian  knows  how  in  its 
earlier  days  the  religion  of  Israel  was  monol- 
atrous;  that  is,  while  the  existence  of  inde- 
pendent deities  outside  Israel  was  acknow- 
ledged by  Israel,  Yahweh  and  Yahweh  alone 
was  Israel's  God.  Each  nation  had  its  own 
god,  whose  jurisdiction  was  limited  to  his  own 
country  and  to  his  own  people,  just  as  Yah weh's 
dominion  was  originally  conceived  as  limited 
to  Israel  and  Palestine.  So  conceived,  Yah- 
weh's  dominion  could  in  no  case  be  regarded 
as  extending  to  or  embracing  Sheol.  In  other 
words,  the  after-life  of  man  was  outside  the 
jurisdiction  of  Yahweh,  and  the  theology  and 
the  eschatology  of  that  period  were  mutually 
exclusive. 


160      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

But  in  due  time  the  monolatrous  conception 
of  God  gave  way  to  the  monotheistic  in  the 
eighth  century  B.C.,  and,  when  once  the  great 
doctrine  of  monotheism  emerged  in  Israel,  all 
other  beliefs,  whether  relating  to  the  present 
life  or  the  after-world,  were  destined  sooner 
or  later  to  be  brought  into  unison  with  it,  but 
in  the  case  of  eschatological  beliefs  later 
rather  than  sooner;  for  eschatological  beliefs 
are  universally  the  last  of  all  beliefs  to  be 
influenced  by  the  loftier  conceptions  of  God. 

The  principle  of  reinterpretation  was,  in 
fact,  continuously  applied  to  traditional  be- 
liefs and  symbols.  The  application  of  this 
principle  was,  no  doubt,  often  unconscious, 
but  it  always  persisted  amongst  the  religious 
minority,  to  whose  hands  God  had  entrusted 
the  spiritual  and  moral  progress  of  the  nation. 

Down  to  the  fourth  century  B.C.,  progress 
was  slow  and  hesitating,  but  from  the  third 
century  onwards  the  work  went  on  apace,  not 
through  the  efforts  of  the  official  religious 
leaders  of  the  nation,  but  mainly  through  its 
unknown  and  unofficial  teachers,  who  issued 
their  writings  under  the  names  of  ancient 
worthies  in  Israel.  The  anonymity  or  pseu- 
donymity  that  characterised  all  the  pro- 
gressive writings  in  Judaism  from  the  third 
century  B.C.  onwards,  was,  as  I  have  shown 


REINTERPRETATION  161 

elsewhere,  due  to  the  absolute  position  that 
the  Law  had  won  through  the  legislation  of 
Ezra.  Owing  to  his  efforts  and  those  of  his 
successors  it  came  to  be  an  accepted  dogma  in 
Judaism  that  the  Law  was  the  complete  and 
final  word  of  God,  and  so  valid  for  all  eternity. 
Such  a  conception  of  the  Law  made  the  rer 
newal  of  prophecy  impossible.  If  any  real 
advances  were  to  be  made  towards  a  higher 
theology,  they  could  only  be  made  in  works  of 
a  pseudonymous  character  under  the  aegis 
of  some  great  name  in  Israel  earlier  in  time 
than  that  of  Ezra. 

Thus  it  came  about  that  all  real  progress 
in  this  direction  was  confined  to  a  school  of 
mystics  and  seers,  to  whom  we  owe  such  works 
as  Isa.  xxiv.-xxvii.  and  Daniel  in  the  Old 
Testament,  and  the  valuable  pseudepigraphs 
that  followed,  such  as  1  Enoch,  the  Testa- 
ments of  the  XII.  Patriarchs,  Jubilees,  the 
Psalms  of  Solomon,  Wisdom  and  the  like. 
In  these  the  task  of  reinterpretation,  whether 
carried  out  consciously  or  unconsciously,  was 
not  a  principle  of  recent  adoption.  Notable 
instances  of  its  application  go  back  even  to  the 
sixth  century  B.C.  and  earlier.  Let  us  touch  on 
one  of  these  which  relates  to  the  advent  of  the 
Messianic  kingdom.  Jeremiah  had  promised 
that   after   seventy   years   Israel   would   be 

L 


162     RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

restored  to  its  own  land  and  enjoy  the  bless- 
ings of  the  Messianic  kingdom.  But  this 
period  passed  and  things  remained  as  of  old. 
Next  Haggai  and  Zechariah  foretold  that, 
when  the  temple  was  rebuilt,  David's  kingdom 
would  be  restored.  The  temple  was  rebuilt, 
but  the  kingdom  failed  to  appear.  Early  in 
the  second  century  B.C.  we  find  two  notable 
reinterpretations  of  the  prophecy  of  Jeremiah 
above  referred  to.  In  Daniel  the  seventy 
years  are  said  to  mean  seventy  weeks  of 
years,  i.  e.  490  years.  In  1  Enoch,  the  seventy 
years  of  Jeremiah  are  taken  to  denote  seventy 
successive  reigns  of  seventy  angels,  to  whom 
God  had  committed  the  administration  of  the 
world. 

Since  these  periods  were  to  culminate  re- 
spectively within  three  and  a  half  years  in  the 
Book  of  Daniel  or  within  the  generation  of 
the  seer  in  1  Enoch,  the  Messianic  kingdom 
was  therefore  at  hand. 

But  the  above  periods  came  and  passed  by, 
and  the  promised  time  still  tarried.  Let  us 
now  pass  over  a  period  of  more  than  two 
centuries.  During  this  interval  a  new  and 
more  ruthless  power  had  taken  the  place  of 
the  Greek  empire  in  the  East,  i.  e,  Rome. 

This  new  phenomenon  called,  therefore, 
for  a  fresh  reinterpretation  of  Daniel.     The 


REINTERPRETATION  163 

fourth  empire,  which,  according  to  Daniel 
was  the  Greek,  was  now  declared  to  be  the 
Roman  by  the  authors  of  2  Baruch  and 
4  Ezra,  and  this  new  interpretation  had  been 
adopted  earlier  by  our  Lord  and  the  various 
writers  of  the  New  Testament. 

I  have  given  the  above  example  to  show 
what  was  taking  place  throughout  the  whole 
province  of  religious  thought  and  expectation. 
Every  conception  was  undergoing  develop- 
ment or  reinterpretation.  Whole  histories 
centre  round  such  conceptions  as  soul,  spirit, 
Sheol,  Paradise,  the  Messianic  kingdom, 
the  Messiah,  the  Resurrection.  Where  the 
spiritual  life  was  active  no  religious  conception 
could  remain  unaltered.  If  it  belonged  char- 
acteristically to  an  earlier  period  of  develop- 
ment, it  had  either  to  be  discarded  or  trans- 
formed. If  it  was  capable  of  growth,  it  grew  : 
otherwise  it  proved  a  stumbling-block  to  the 
faithful  and  an  obstacle  to  spiritual  progress. 

This  reinterpretation  of  traditional  beliefs 
and  symbols  was,  as  we  have  seen,  due  to  the 
prophetic  succession  of  seers  and  mystics, 
which  were  seldom  lacking  in  Judaism  from 
the  Exile  onwards.  But  the  task  of  reinterpre- 
tation was  not  wholly  confined  to  them.  The 
very  legalists,  who,  as  true  sons  of  Ezra,  had 
by  their  glorification  of  the  Law  as  absolute 


164     RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

and  final  made  the  office  of  the  prophet 
impossible,  came  in  due  course  not  only  to 
borrow  the  elements  of  the  higher  theology 
contained  in  apocalyptic,  but  also  to  inter- 
pret Old  Testament  beliefs  that  belonged  to 
an  earlier  and  lower  stage  of  development  in 
conformity  with  this  higher  theology.  Indeed 
it  is  not  possible  to  see  how  otherwise  con- 
tinuous spiritual  progress  could  have  been 
maintained  in  Judaism.  And  what  is  true  of 
Judaism  is  true  of  all  Churches.  No  Church 
which  makes  this  right  of  reinterpretation 
impossible  can  continue  to  be  a  spiritual 
leader  of  mankind.  Spiritual  and  intellectual 
growth  without  it  is  impossible,  and  so  far  as 
the  leaders  of  a  Church  succeed  in  making 
such  growth  impossible,  so  far  they  succeed 
in  limiting  its  membership  to  the  mere 
traditionalist,  the  reactionary  and  the  ob- 
scurantist, in  short,  to  the  intellectual  and 
moral  minors  of  the  race.  This  right  of  re- 
interpretation  was  exercised  by  every  prophet, 
seer  and  great  teacher  from  the  Exile  onwards : 
it  was  naturally  exercised  in  an  unparalleled 
degree  by  our  Lord  in  dealing  with  the  Law, 
and  in  a  very  drastic  fashion  by  St.  Paul,  and 
in  some  measure  by  every  other  writer  of  the 
New  Testament.  The  bulk  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment books  had  been  written  by  prophets, 


REINTERPRETATION  165 

historians  and  psalmists,  whose  beliefs  in 
regard  to  a  future  life  were  essentially  heathen. 
And  yet  even  the  legalistic  Pharisees  re- 
interpreted, as  we  have  already  stated,  these 
books  in  the  light  of  the  higher  theology  of  the 
apocalyptic  school,  and  the  significance  which 
our  Lord  read  into  the  words,  "  I  am  the  God 
of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God 
of  Jacob,"  as  a  proof  of  the  resurrection  of 
the  dead,  is  essentially  a  reinterpretation 
after  the  manner  of  the  apocalyptic  school 
of  Pharisaism.  Many  analogous  ^interpreta- 
tions are  to  be  found  in  the  New  Testament. 

We  have  now  seen  that  in  pre-Christian 
Judaism  progress  in  the  direction  of  a  higher 
theology  was  achieved  through  the  spiritual 
life  and  writings  of  a  succession  of  seers  and 
mystics,  who,  owing  to  the  unconditional  and 
final  character  of  the  Law  as  conceived  in 
orthodox  Judaism,  were  obliged  to  issue  their 
works  under  the  names  of  bygone  worthies  in 
Israel. 

Although  these  seers  and  mystics  must  have 
felt  the  claims  of  the  Law  a  severe  strain  on 
their  obedience,  they  never  betray  a  single 
sign  of  disloyalty  in  their  utterances  with 
regard  to  it.  In  every  work  emanating  from 
their  school  the  supremacy  and  everlasting- 
ness  of  the  Law  are  maintained. 


166     RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

But  when  we  pass  from  Jewish  apocalyptic 
to  Christianity  we  are  struck  with  the  ab- 
solutely different  attitude  assumed  towards  the 
Law.  It  is  true  that  our  Lord  said,  "  Think 
not  that  I  came  to  destroy  the  law  or  the 
prophets  :  I  came  not  to  destroy  but  to  fulfil. 
For  verily  I  say  unto  you,  Till  heaven  and  earth 
pass  away,  one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise 
pass  away  from  the  law  till  all  things  be  ac- 
complished "  (Matt.  v.  17  seq.).  In  these 
words  the  old  attitude  to  the  Law  seems  to 
be  maintained.  But  this  is  not  so,  as  is 
clear — first  from  the  fact  that  our  Lord  de- 
liberately broke  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  and 
justified  Himself  by  declaring,  "  the  Sabbath 
was  made  for  man,  not  man  for  the  Sabbath  "  : 
next  from  His  abolition  of  the  distinction 
between  clean  and  unclean  meats  (Mark  vii. 
14  seq.),  on  which  the  Law  laid  such  over- 
whelming weight,  and  thirdly  from  His 
criticism  and  reinterpretation  of  other  parts 
of  the  Law  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 
Yet  He  had  come  not  to  destroy  the  Law 
but  to  release  from  their  obsolete  forms  the 
spiritual  elements  that  underlay  them :  to 
teach  by  word  and  example  that  selfishness 
was  to  be  destroyed  and  not  restrained,  and 
the  flesh  crucified  and  not  circumcised.  Thus 
alike  by  His  teaching  and  life  our  Lord  showed 


REINTERPRETATION  167 

that  the  Law  was  neither  unalterable  nor 
infallible.  So  conceived  for  the  past  few 
centuries,  it  had  been  the  great  obstacle  to 
the  open  exercise  of  prophecy  and  to  spiritual 
progress.  But  now  that  its  supremacy  was 
overthrown  and  that  it  was  relegated  into 
the  second  place,  it  became  possible  for 
apostle  and  prophet  to  come  forward  with 
their  higher  gifts  and  in  their  own  persons  to 
deliver  their  divine  message  to  the  people. 

What  is  true  of  our  Lord's  attitude  to  the 
Law  is  in  a  still  stronger  degree  true  of  that 
of  St.  Paul,  who  classes  Sabbaths  with  new 
moons  and  Mosaic  distinctions  of  things  clean 
and  unclean,  and  described  circumcision  as 
a  mere  mutilation  of  the  flesh.  In  the 
Christian  apocalypse  the  Law  is  not  even  once 
mentioned,  and  Judaism,  so  far  as  it  stands 
for  a  bondage  to  the  letter  of  a  bygone  legisla- 
tion in  opposition  to  the  freedom  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  is  branded  by  its  author  as  the 
synagogue  of  Satan. 

For  a  few  generations  the  Christian  Church 
enjoyed  a  wide  latitude  both  as  regards  creed 
and  ritual.  At  this  period  the  Church  was 
composed  of  the  body  of  faithful  people  who 
served  God  as  revealed  through  Christ  and 
professed  a  life  guided  in  all  respects  by  the 
teaching  of  Christ.     Christianity  and  religion 


168      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

were  at  this  stage  practically  identical .  Christi- 
anity was  a  divine  life — not  an  intellectual 
creed,  nor  a  system  of  ritual  observance,  though 
it  naturally  postulated  both,  as  an  expression 
of  its  spiritual  experience — an  expression  which 
must  vary  with  the  age  to  which  it  belongs. 

Let  us  observe  now  a  very  important  result 
that  follows  therefrom.  Since  Christianity 
was  first  of  all  the  realisation  of  the  divine  life 
in  the  individual  and  the  community,  offences 
against  this  life  were  necessarily  dealt  with 
as  acts  of  spiritual  high  treason,  and,  if 
unrepented  of,  were  visited  with  excommuni- 
cation from  the  society.  Thus  St.  Paul 
demanded  the  expulsion  of  those  guilty  of 
flagrant  immorality,  as  similarly  did  our  Lord 
in  the  case  of  persistent  and  unrepentant 
offenders  against  the  spiritual  life  of  the  com- 
munity (Matt,  xviii.  15-17).  But  Christianity 
might  be  regarded  in  a  secondary  degree  as 
an  intellectual  creed  and  a  system  of  ritual. 
Since,  however,  these  did  not  constitute  the 
essence  of  Christianity,  but  were  simply  the 
outward  expression,  more  or  less  adequate, 
of  this  essence,  offences  against  creed  and 
ritual  were  regarded  in  quite  a  different  light 
from  offences  against  the  divine  life  in  the 
individual  and  in  the  Church.  Thus  St.  Paul 
did  not  expel  from  the  Christian  Church  those 


REINTERPRETATION  169 

who  denied  the  Resurrection,  but  treated  them 
as  persons  to  be  reasoned  with  and  instructed. 
How  widely  have  all  the  Churches  of  Chris- 
tendom departed  from  the  spiritual  and 
Apostolic  conception  of  the  Church  ?  Herein 
history  has  repeated  itself.  For  as  religion  in 
Judaism  had  come  to  be  identified  with  the 
acceptance  of  an  infallible  and  unalterable 
Law,  so  in  Christianity  it  came  to  be  identified 
not  firstly  and  chiefly  with  a  spiritual  life  in 
Christ,  but  firstly  and  chiefly  with  the  accept- 
ance of  certain  intellectual  beliefs  about 
Christ,  that  were  maintained  to  be  alike 
infallible  and  unalterable;  and  just  as  in 
Judaism  spiritual  progress  was  carried  on 
not  by  the  official  representatives  of  the 
Jewish  Church,  but  by  the  seers  and  mystics, 
so  when  religion  was  to  a  considerable  degree 
divorced  from  life  in  the  official  Christendom 
of  the  Middle  Ages  and  identified  with  an 
intellectual  system,  it  was  the  Christian 
mystics  and  thinkers  that  led  the  way  to 
the  recovery  of  a  primitive  and  evangelistic 
Christianity.  But  the  confusion  of  a  body  of 
intellectual  conceptions  with  religion  was  not 
confined  to  the  Middle  Ages  :  it  has  prevailed 
to  the  most  recent  times,  and  this  irreligious 
conception  •  of  religion  has  been  so  effective 
that  many  of  the  prophets  could  only  work 


170      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

outside  the  official  Church,  and  amongst  them 
may  be  reckoned  not  merely  actual  Christian 
teachers  but  also  great  students  of  science, 
whose  discoveries  in  search  of  truth  have 
revolutionised  our  modern  theology,  but  for 
whom  no  place  could  be  found  in  past  cen- 
turies within  the  Church  owing  to  its  narrow 
and  mechanical  and  irreligious  intellectualism. 

The  Church,  which  declares  its  formularies 
to  be  incapable  of  reinterpretation  and  which 
maintains  them  to  be  unalterable,  like  the 
laws  of  the  Medes  and  Persians,  cannot  hope 
ultimately  to  escape  the  same  end  that  befel 
that  great  empire. 

In  the  comparison  which  I  have  just  made 
between  the  Jewish  and  Christian  Churches, 
I  have  shown  that  in  both  there  was  the  same 
tendency  to  identify  religion  with  the  accept- 
ance of  an  intellectual  system. 

Owing,  however,  to  the  divisions  of  Christen- 
dom this  intellectualism  was  not  as  destructive 
as  it  would  otherwise  have  been  :  many  of  its 
evil  effects  were  largely  discounted  by  the 
rise  of  nonconformities,  dissents,  schisms  and 
heresies.  In  this  way  the  identification  of 
religion  with  its  intellectual  expression  at  any 
one  period  of  the  Church's  history  was  in  part 
rendered  null  and  void. 

But  it  must  be  admitted  that  such  a  con- 


REINTERPRETATION  171 

dition  is  in  the  highest  degree  undesirable. 
Instead  of  a  number  of  Christian  Churches  in 
a  nation  refusing  to  recognise  one  another, 
working  exclusively  and  excluding  one  an- 
other, we  should  have  as  in  Judaism  one 
national  Church  with  many  parties.  Every 
national  Church  has  its  own  contribution  to 
make  to  the  Church  Universal. 

The  appearance  of  frequent  schisms  and 
divisions  in  the  Church  is  symptomatic  of 
something  radically  wrong  in  its  constitution 
and  conception,  and  the  evil  from  which  they 
spring  is  frequently  the  identification  of 
religion  with  the  acceptance  of  a  hard  and 
fast  intellectual  Creed. 

But  no  Church  that  is  living  and  advancing 
spiritually,  morally  and  intellectually,  can 
maintain  that  its  formularies  or  sacred  books 
are  incapable  of  reinterpretation.  Let  us  take 
as  an  example  the  Church  of  England  which 
is  admittedly  of  the  nature  above  described. 
In  this  Church  every  intelligent  man  re- 
interprets the  account  of  the  Creation  in  six 
days,  as  given  in  the  opening  Chapters  of 
Genesis,  and  refuses  to  hold  himself  bound 
either  by  the  time  limits  therein  given  or  by 
the  order  of  the  events  narrated.  He  regards 
this  cosmogony  as  a  recast  of  the  Babylonian 
one,  but  with  this  vast  distinction  that  the 


172      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

world  was  the  work  not  of  a  variety  of  gods 
but  of  one  only,  from  whom  it  comes  and  in 
whom  it  consists.  On  this  fundamental  truth 
all  true  religion  and  science  must  ultimately 
rest. 

Again,  every  thoughtful  man  reinterprets 
the  last  five  commandments  of  the  Decalogue 
on  the  lines  laid  down  by  our  Lord,  who 
transfers  the  sense  of  obligation  from  the 
outward  act  to  the  motive  and  the  heart. 

But  the  need  of  reinterpretation  is  still 
more  inevitable  with  regard  to  the  fourth 
commandment.  We  hear  this  commandment 
read  out  by  the  officiating  clergyman  in  our 
morning  service,  and  at  its  close  we  utter 
the  response  :  "  Lord,  have  mercy  upon  us, 
and  incline  our  hearts  to  keep  this  law."  But 
in  our  minds  we  have  already  discounted  a 
great  portion  of  this  commandment.  We  do 
not  keep  the  seventh  day  and  we  admit  of  no 
obligation  to  keep  it.  We  further  regard  it 
as  wholly  inadequate  for  the  expression  of 
our  Christian  duty  on  the  first  day  of  the 
week.  This  fourth  commandment  is  all  but 
purely  negative  :  it  simply  enjoins  abstinence 
from  every  form  of  unnecessary  work,  whereas, 
when  reinterpreted  from  the  Christian  stand- 
point, it  is  positive  as  well  :  it  requires  worship 
as  well  as  rest.     Every  day  of  the  week  is  a 


REINTERPRETATION  173 

day  on  which  man  should  worship  God,  but 
owing  to  the  necessary  labours  of  the  week  this 
worship  can  generally  be  only  that  of  the 
individual  or  of  the  family,  whereas  on  the 
first  day  of  the  week  all  but  the  necessary 
labours  of  man  are  suspended,  that  man  may 
not  only  rest  in  mind  and  body  but  take  his 
part  in  public  worship  along  with  his  brethren ; 
for,  so  far  as  we  forsake  the  assembling  of 
ourselves  together  on  the  first  day  of  the  week, 
we  deprive  ourselves  of  one  of  the  strongest 
aids  to  the  spiritual  and  ethical  life. 

Still  more  even  than  in  the  case  of  the  Ten 
Commandments  is  the  need  felt  for  reinter- 
preting the  Psalms  in  our  private  and  public 
worship.  I  do  not  now  speak  of  our  reading 
into  them  a  continuous  reference  to  a  blessed 
future  life — an  idea  that  was  unknown  or 
incredible  to  the  minds  of  their  authors  except 
in  two  or  three  instances.  I  refer  rather  to 
those  Psalms  wherein  the  authors  amidst  the 
noblest  expressions  of  faith  in  and  devotion 
to  God  incorporate  requests  for  vengeance 
and  victory  over  their  personal  foes  :  and 
yet  more  to  the  Imprecatory  Psalms,  which 
exhibit  a  passion  of  hate  and  malignity  with- 
out parallel  in  any  of  the  higher  religions. 

We  might  pursue  this  subject  at  much 
greater  length  with  regard  to  the  Old  Testa- 


174      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

merit,  but  enough  has  been  done  to  show  that 
the  sacred  books,  which  we  have  taken  over 
from  the  Jewish  Church,  need  to  be  reinter- 
preted in  the  light  of  the  Christian  revelation 
and  the  development  of  the  Christian  life 
within  the  Church. 

But  we  cannot  pause  here.  The  need  of 
reinterpretation  is  not  confined  to  the  books 
and  symbols  we  have  accepted  from  the  Jewish 
Church.  We  have  already  observed  that 
Christianity  was  in  its  essence  a  divine  life, 
and  not  an  intellectual  creed  nor  a  system  of 
ritual  observance,  though  it  naturally  postu- 
lated both  as  an  expression  of  its  spiritual 
experience.  But  just  as  in  Judaism  religion 
came  to  be  identified  with  the  acceptance  of 
an  unchangeable  Law,  so  it  was  not  long  till 
in  Christianity  religion  came  to  be  identified 
with  the  acceptance  of  a  body  of  intellectual 
formulas  and  obedience  to  a  certain  system 
of  ritual.  But  a  creed  at  its  best  is  nothing 
more  than  the  intellectual  expression  of  the 
religious  life  of  the  age  to  which  it  belongs, 
and  to  claim  that  any  creed  is  the  final  and 
unalterable  expression — I  do  not  say  of  the 
absolute  truth,  but  of  truth  so  far  as  it  is 
ultimately  accessible  to  man  in  this  world — 
is  to  run  counter  to  the  true  conception  of 
religion    and    to    Christ's    promise   of    ever 


REINTERPRETATION  175 

fuller  truth  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

Let  us  take  the  simplest  and  most  primitive 
of  the  three  Creeds.  In  the  so-called  Apostles' 
Creed  there  are  statements  which  cannot  be 
accepted  unless  they  are  submitted  to  a 
drastic  reinterpretation.  For  example,  the 
phrase,  "  descended  into  hell "  assumes  a 
region  underlying  the  surface  of  the  earth 
peopled  by  disembodied  spirits.  It  is  needless 
to  say  we  no  longer  accept  this  statement  in 
its  present  form.  Again  the  phrase  "  as- 
cended into  heaven  "  localises  the  abode  of 
the  blest  in  a  fashion  contrary  to  modern 
thought.  But  the  worst  offence  to  the  modern 
Christian  is  to  be  found  in  the  words  "  the  resur- 
rection of  the  flesh"  (carnis  resurrectionem, 
oapKog  dvdoraoLv).1  It  is  true  that  in  the 
Morning  and  Evening  Services  the  phrase 
runs,  "resurrection  of  the  body."  But  this  is 
a  mere  substitution  for  the  original  clause  in 
the  Creed,  introduced  first,  it  is  said,  in  1543  in 
the  Necessary  Doctrine  and  Erudition  of  any 
Christian  Man,  published  with  the  approval 
of  Henry  VIII.     But  the  true  rendering — 

1  Tertullian  in  the  third  century  and  Marcellus  and 
St.  Augustine  in  the  fourth  enforce  this  crass  materialism, 
while  Rufinus  (at  Aquileia  390)  and  Nicetas  in  the  next 
century,  not  content  with  the  phrase  carnis  resurrectionem, 
transformed  it  into  hujus  carnis  resurrectionem. 


176      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

"  the  resurrection  of  the  flesh " — is  still 
preserved  in  the  Offices  for  Baptism  and  the 
Visitation  of  the  Sick.  This  materialistic 
view,  which  was  that  of  the  Church  down  to 
modern  times,  can  no  longer  receive  the 
suffrage  of  any  educated  man.  Nay,  more, 
even  the  substituted  phrase  "  resurrection  of 
the  body  "  cannot  be  said  to  be  scriptural  or 
tolerable,  unless  we  reinterpret  it.  According 
to  the  New  Testament  persons  are  raised  and 
not  bodies,  and  if  we  adopt  the  Pauline 
language  we  cannot  rightly  speak  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  body,  unless  we  practically 
identify  the  body  with  the  expression  of  the 
personality.  The  body  is  the  organ  of  the 
spirit  adapted  to  the  environment  in  which 
the  spirit  is  placed. 

Views,  moreover,  of  inspiration,  original 
sin  and  the  atonement,  which  were  essential 
articles  of  faith  with  our  forefathers  have 
become  untenable  for  the  thoughtful  man  of 
the  present  day.  The  highest  expression  of 
any  divine  truth  at  a  given  time  cannot  do 
more  than  set  forth  the  highest  religious 
consciousness  of  that  time.  Hence,  while  we 
retain  the  ancient  formularies,  we  must 
recognise  frankly  their  obsolete  character  in 
certain  aspects,  and  be  prepared  to  reinterpret 
them  in  such  a  way  as  will  bring  them  into 


COMPREHENSION  177 

line  with  the  highest  spiritual,  moral  and 
scientific  truths  of  our  own  age.1 

There  can  be  no  final  expression  of  divine 
truth  here.  In  this  world  we  can  only  see 
through  a  glass  darkly. 

In  this  reinterpretation  of  the  conclusions 
of  the  past  in  accordance  with  the  findings  of 
the  present,  we  are  but  following  in  the  steps 
of  the  prophets  of  Israel,  of  the  seers  and 
mystics  of  Judaism,  and  above  all  of  our  Lord 
and  His  apostles,  and  of  all  the  great  spiritual 
leaders  of  religious  thought  since  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Church.  Reinterpretation  wisely 
and  judiciously  carried  out  is,  then,  we  con- 
clude, a  necessary  precondition  of  a  living 
and  spiritual  Church  in  the  present. 

When  the  right  of  reinterpretation  is  duly 
recognised  by  a  Church,  its  Comprehensive- 
ness or  Catholicity  2  follows*  as  a  matter  of 
course. 

1  And  yet  there  can  be  no  ground  for  complaint; 
for  the  measure  of  our  light  is  always  far  in  excess  of 
the  measure  of  our  obedience. 

2  No  Church  can  be  truly  Catholic  which  lays  the  chief 
emphasis  on  the  acceptance  of  an  intellectual  formula. 
So  far  as  it  does  so,  it  is  essentially  irreligious  and  sectarian, 
and  such  a  wrong  emphasis  must  ultimately  issue  in  the 
identification  of  dogma  and  religion,  in  other  words,  the 
identification  of  a  temporary  and  partial  expression  of 
religion — and  that  often  its  least  valid  expression — with 
religion  itself.  Such  a  tendency  is  of  a  very  paradoxical 
character;  for  this  intellectualism  is  in  modern  days  most 

M 


178      RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

Here,  again,  we  have  an  important  lesson 
to  learn  from  Judaism ;  for  the  Jewish  Church 
prior  to  a.d.  70  could  open  its  doors  to  all 
the  spiritually  minded  men  of  the  nation,  but 
no  Christian  Church  since  the  Reformation 
can  make  any  such  claim.  For,  since  all 
stages  of  development  from  the  agnostic  atti- 
tude of  the  Sadducee  to  the  most  spiritually 
conceived  creed  of  the  Pharisee  were  repre- 
sented and  recognised  as  alike  tenable  in 
Judaism  when  an  established  Church,  it 
follows  that  the  Jewish  Church  attained  a 
degree  of  comprehensiveness  that  the  entire 
Christian  Church,  Anglican  and  Protestant, 
Greek  and  Roman  combined,  cannot  rival. 

Let  us  mark  well  the  intellectual  diversity 
of  opinion  amongst  not  only  the  worshippers 
themselves,  but  also  amongst'  the  priests  in 
the  Temple.  And  this  diversity  existed  not 
merely  between  the  extreme  opposing  parties 

dominant,  where  the  intellectual  interests  are  feeblest, 
and  the  rightful  claims  of  the  intellect  are  most  rigidly 
suppressed.  Such  a  Church,  whether  its  adherents  are  to  be 
reckoned  by  millions  or  by  hundreds,  is  essentially  a  sect. 
Its  continued  existenoe,  despite  its  untenable  positions,  is 
due  to  the  real  spiritual  life,  which  manages  to  maintain 
itself  under  the  guise  of  mysticism  or  modernism,  as  well 
as  to  the  large  body  of  the  unintelligent  faithful,  who  can 
find  full  spiritual  satisfaction  in  unquestioning  submission 
to  the  external  commandments  and  creeds  under  which 
they  have  chanoed  to  be  born. 


COMPREHENSION  179 

of  the  Sadducees  and  the  Pharisees,  between 
those  who  denied  a  blessed  future  life,  and 
those  who  upheld  it,  but  even  amongst  the 
Pharisees  themselves  to  such  a  degree  that 
there  was  no  such  thing  as  uniform  intellectual 
belief  amongst  them  on  the  great  questions 
as  to  the  nature  of  the  resurrection,  the  king- 
dom of  God,  the  Messiah,  the  duration  of  His 
kingdom,  the  ultimate  destiny  of  the  Gentiles. 
Thus  Sadducee  and  Pharisee,  Herodian  and 
Essene  worshipped  in  the  Temple,  bound 
together  not  by  uniformity  of  intellectual 
belief  but  by  unity  of  spirit  in  the  worship  of 
the  same  God,  as  revealed  by  Moses  and  the 
prophets.  Within  that  ancient  Church  in- 
tellectual and  spiritual  growth  were  possible 
in  a  degree  unexampled  in  subsequent  times, 
or  in  any  Church.  Such  a  Church  was  well 
fitted  to  be  the  Mother  of  Christianity,  and 
it  is  noteworthy  that  our  Lord  exemplified 
in  His  teaching  and  bearing  to  others  the  full- 
orbed  comprehensiveness,  of  which  the  various 
parties  in  the  Jewish  Church  were  but  broken 
and  partial  representatives.  Thus  we  find 
that  in  all  His  teachings  in  the  Synoptic 
Gospels  only  once  did  He  lay  supreme  stress 
on  a  dogmatic  question,  and  even  that  can 
hardly  be  so  designated;  for  the  belief  in  a 
future  life  is  not  merely  an  article  of  religion, 


180      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

but  a  postulate  of  the  reason,  and  an  axiom 
of  every  life  that  transcends  a  purely  material 
outlook. 

And  yet,  though  the  Sadducees  denied  a 
future  life,  our  Lord  did  not  on  that  account 
refuse  to  attend  the  Temple  services  conducted 
by  the  Sadducean  priesthood. 

Nor  do  we  find  Him  frequently  testing 
His  followers  as  to  their  creed,  expelling  one 
as  a  sceptic  and  inhibiting  another  as  an 
unbeliever.  Sceptics  they  were  one  and  all 
during  their  time  of  tutelage,  a  genuine  society 
of  doubters.  But  doubt  and  uncertainty,  so 
long  as  they  were  honest,  our  Lord  always 
treated  with  the  utmost  consideration,  whereas 
He  had  nought  but  reproofs  for  the  children 
of  the  untrimmed  lamp,  the  unused  talent,  the 
ungirded  loin  :  and  nought  but  denunciation 
for  those  who  saw  their  neighbour  naked  and 
clothed  him  not,  sick  and  visited  him  not, 
repentant  and  forgave  him  not. 

The  one  test  that  He  gave  His  disciples 
whereby  to  distinguish  His  true  followers  from 
the  false,  was  the  rule  :  By  their  fruits  ye  shall 
know  them. 

To  moral  excellence  wherever  found — even 
outside  the  wide  portals  of  the  Jewish  Church 
— He  ever  extended  a  willing  and  glad 
recognition,  such  as  to  the  faith  of  the  Syro- 


COMPREHENSION  181 

Phoenician  woman,  and  the  goodness  of  the 
Samaritan — examples  that  the  Churches  that 
bear  His  name  have  honoured  in  the  breach, 
rather  than  in  the  observance. 

But  the  worship  in  the  Temple  was  not 
confined  to  the  Jew  only ;  not  only  our  Lord, 
but  also  His  apostles  including  St.  Paul,  the 
great  opponent  of  the  Law,  worshipped  there, 
together  with  Sadducee  and  Pharisee,  while 
of  St.  James,  the  first  head  of  the  Church  in 
Jerusalem  after  the  ascension  of  Christ,  it  is 
recounted  that  his  knees  became  hard  as  a 
camel's,  because  of  his  habitual  prayers  in  the 
Temple  on  behalf  of  the  people. 

Now  with  the  history  of  such  a  great  Church 
in  the  past  before  us,  are  we  not  encouraged 
to  look  forward  to  the  time  when  the  National 
Church  of  England  will  in  one  respect — 
namely,  its  comprehensiveness — resemble  the 
Jewish  Church  of  that  period,  and  become  the 
spiritual  mother  of  all  true  spiritually-minded 
Englishmen — all  who  worship  God  as  re- 
vealed by  Christ  and  His  disciples  ?  Spiritual 
unity — not  intellectual  conformity — would  be 
the  essential  mark  of  such  a  Church. 

Such  a  hope  cannot  be  simply  set  aside  as 
visionary  and  ideal;  for  a  Church  still  more 
comprehensive  did  exist  —  an  established 
Church,  and  on  the  roll  of  its  members  was 


182      RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

the  Founder  of  Christianity  and  all  His 
apostles  without  exception.  Judaism,  then, 
was  a  comprehensive  Church,  but  it  was  only 
comprehensive  so  long  as  it  was  an  established 
Church.  When  it  ceased  to  be  an  established 
Church  with  the  destruction  of  the  Temple  by 
the  Romans,  the  liberty  of  interpretation  in 
a  spiritual  and  progressive  sense  was  sup- 
pressed, Judaism  lost  its  comprehensiveness, 
the  legalistic  party  succeeded  in  crushing 
every  rival  form  of  religious  thought  and 
worship,  and  so  Judaism  became  in  its 
essentials  a  mere  sect. 

This  history  of  the  past  is  instructive.  The 
severance  of  Church  and  State  was  disastrous 
to  Judaism,  and  what  was  true  then  is  no  less 
true  now.  I  cannot  here  set  forth  how 
necessary  in  a  Christian  nation,  Church  and 
State  are  to  each  other,  and  how  in  reality 
they  represent  only  two  sides  of  one  and  the 
same  Christian  Society.  I  will  content  my- 
self by  emphasising  the  fact  that  all  the  great 
work  that  Judaism  did  for  the  world  was  done 
when  the  Church  and  State  were  one,  and 
that  when  the  State  was  destroyed  and  con- 
sequently the  close  relation  of  Church  and 
State  was  brought  to  an  end,  Judaism  was 
hopelessly  crippled  and  became  a  Sect,  and 
has  remained  such  down  to  the  present  day. 


COMPREHENSION  183 

To  the  thoughtful  students  of  the  past  and 
of  the  present  it  is  not  disestablishment,  but 
re-establishment  of  national  Churches  that 
is  now  necessary,  if  the  Church  and  State  of 
the  various  Christian  nations  would  each 
achieve  their  highest. 

The  members  of  the  Church,  therefore,  who 
at  various  times  have  sought  to  make  the 
Church  comprehensive,  have  for  their  sanction 
their  Master's  example  and  the  practice  of 
the  apostolic  circle,  and  from  this  strong 
position  they  can  rightly  urge  that  the  re- 
newal of  such  a  wide  comprehensiveness  is 
surely  not  impossible  in  these  latter  days. 
Could  not  faithful  men,  who  find  in  Christ 
the  guide  and  inspiration  of  their  own  re- 
ligious life,  however  they  differ  in  their 
conception  of  His  nature  and  being,  agree  to 
worship  God,  as  revealed  in  Christ,  side  by 
side,  bound  together  in  the  unity  of  the  same 
Spirit?  In  such  a  Church  no  one  would 
think  of  whittling  down  his  convictions  to  suit 
his  neighbours',  nay,  rather  he  would  hold 
firmly  to  the  truth  as  it  was  revealed  to  him, 
and,  whilst  he  could  not  for  the  sake  of  others 
relinquish  a  single  serious  conviction,  he  would 
never  think  of  exacting  from  others  con- 
formity with  his  own.  And  thus,  while  one 
man  would  give  his  whole-hearted  belief  to 


184      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

the  very  letter  of  the  forms  in  which  the 
traditional  faith  of  the  Church  has  expressed 
itself,  another,  no  less  truly  a  member  of  the 
Church,  could  give  his  adhesion  only  to  the 
spiritual  truth  behind  the  forms. 

Thus  might  be  realised  at  last  that  ideal 
of  the  Church,  which  is  defined  in  our  Book 
of  Common  Prayer  as,  "  the  blessed  company 
of  all  faithful  people." 


CHAPTER   VII 

THE  LITEBATURE — THE  OLD  TESTAMENT 
APOCRYPHA 

(I)  The  Old  Testament  Apocrypha,1  or 
the  Apocrypha  Proper,  and  (II)  the  Pseudepi- 

1  The  term  apocryphal  {hir6Kpv<pm)  was  used  in 
various  senses,  but  we  shall  here  limit  our  consideration 
to  the  three  chief  senses  it  bore  in  early  times.  (1)  First 
it  was  applied  in  a  laudatory  sense  to  writings  which  were 
kept  secret  because  they  were  the  vehicles  of  esoteric 
knowledge,  too  profound  or  sacred  to  be  disclosed  to 
any  save  the  initiated.  Thus  a  magical  book  of  Moses, 
which  may  be  as  old  as  the  first  century  a.d.,  is  entitled 
"  A  holy  and  secret  (dirSKpvQos)  Book  of  Moses."  The 
disoiples  of  the  Gnostic  Prodicus  declared  that  they 
possessed  the  secret  books  of  Zoroaster.  4  Ezra  was 
in  its  author's  view  a  secret  work,  whose  value  exceeded 
that  of  the  canonical  scriptures  (xiv.  46  seq. ).  It  was  to  be 
made  known  only  to  the  wise  among  the  people.  Only  the 
wise  could  understand  these  books,  Dan.  xii.  10,  1  Enooh 


THE   O.T.   APOCRYPHA         185 

grapha  are  the  usual  designations  of  the 
Jewish  non-canonical  books  written  between 
200  B.C.  and  a.d.  100. 

I.  Apocrypha  Proper. — Under  this  title 
are  ranked  the  Apocrypha  of  the  Old  Testament, 
which  consist  of  the  following  books :  1  Esdras, 
2  Esdras,  Tobit,  Judith,  Additions  to  Esther, 
Wisdom  of  Solomon,  Ecclesiasticus,  Baruch, 
Epistle  of  Jeremy,  Additions  to  Daniel  (Song 
of  the  Three  Holy  Children,  History  of 
Susannah  and  the  Elders,  and  Bel  and  the 
Dragon),  Prayer  of  Manasses,  1  Maccabees, 
2  Maccabees.  Thus  the  Apocrypha  Proper 
constitutes  the  surplusage  of  the  Vulgate 
or  Bible  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  over 
the  Hebrew  Old  Testament.  In  the  course 
of  history  two  verdicts  in  the  main  have  been 
passed  upon  these  books.  (1)  The  Church 
of  Rome  declared  them  to  be  fully  canonical 
at  the  Council  of  Trent  1546  a.d.  :  "  He 
is  also  to  be  anathema,  who  does  not  receive 

xciii.  10.  The  New  Testament  is  reckoned  by  Gregory 
(Oratio  in  suam  ordinationem,  iii.  549,  ed.  Migne)  as 
among  the  secret  (airoKpv<pois)  books."  (2)  The  word 
was  used  in  a  derogatory  sense  of  writings  that  were  of 
a  secondary  or  questionable  character.  Thus  Origen 
and  likewise  Eusebius  distinguish  between  books  which 
were  read  in  the  Churches  and  apocryphal  writings 
which  were  excluded  from  the  public  use  of  the  Church. 
(3)  Finally,  the  word  came  to  mean  that  which  was  false, 
spurious  or  heretical 


186      RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

these  entire  books,  with  all  their  parts,  as 
they  have  been  accustomed  to  be  read  in  the 
Catholic  Church,  and  are  found  in  the  ancient 
editions  of  the  Latin  Vulgate,  as  sacred  and 
canonical."  The  weight  that  scholars  in 
general  will  attach  to  this  decree  cannot  but 
be  influenced  by  the  fact,  that  of  the  prelates 
who  formed  this  Council  none  came  from 
Germany  or  Switzerland  or  from  any  of  the 
northern  countries ;  none  knew  Hebrew,  only 
a  few  had  some  knowledge  of  Greek,  and  there 
were  even  some  whose  knowledge  of  Latin 
was  of  a  doubtful  character.  (2)  The  second 
view  is  that  held  universally  by  the  Protestant 
Churches  that  only  the  books  in  the  Hebrew 
collection  are  canonical.  But  amongst  the 
Reformed  Churches  a  milder  and  a  severer 
view  have  prevailed  as  to  the  Apocrypha. 
While  many  of  these  Churches  have  banished 
these  books  wholly  from  their  public  worship, 
the  Church  of  England  has  decreed  that  they 
should  be  read  in  her  public  services  "  for 
example  of  life  and  instruction  of  manners." 
It  is  hardly  possible  to  form  any  classifica- 
tion of  the  Apocrypha  Proper  that  is  not 
open  to  serious  objection.  In  any  case  the 
classification  must  be  regarded  as  provisional, 
since  scholars  are  still  far  from  unanimous 
as  to  the  original  language,  date  and  place 


THE   O.T.   APOCRYPHA  187 

of  composition  of  some  of  the  books  which 
come  under  our  classification.1  We  may 
distinguish  (i)  the  Palestinian  and  (ii)  the 
Hellenistic  literature  of  the  Old  Testament. 
The  former  was  generally  written  in  Hebrew 
or  Aramaic,  and  seldom  in  Greek.  Next 
within  these  literatures  we  shall  distinguish 
three  or  four  classes  according  to  the  nature 
of  the  subject  with  which  they  deal.  Thus 
they  may  be  classed  as  (a)  Historical,  (6) 
Legendary  (or  Haggadic),  (c)  Apocalyptic, 
(d)  Didactic  or  Sapiential. 

I.  i.  Palestinian  Jewish  Literature  :— 

(a)  Historical. 

1  (i.  e.  3)  Ezra. 
1  Maccabees. 

(b)  Legendary. 

1  Baruch  (i.  e.  Book  of  Baruch). 
Judith. 

(c)  Apocalyptic. 

2  (i.  e.  4)  Ezra. 

1  Thus  some  of  the  additions  to  Daniel,  if  not  all,  are 
most  probably  derived  from  Semitic  originals  written 
in  Palestine,  yet,  in  compliance  with  the  more  current 
view,  they  are  here  classed  with  Hellenistic  Jewish 
literature.  Again,  under  Palestinian  literature  is  classed 
1  Baruch,  though  there  is  strong  evidence  that  a  portion 
of  it  was  written  in  Babylon. 


188     RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

(d)  Didactic. 
Sirach. 
Tobit. 

Prayer  of  Manasses. 
Epistle  of  Jeremy. 
Book  of  Wisdom. 

ii.  Hellenistic  Jewish  Literature : — 
Historical  and  Legendary. 
Additions  to  Daniel. 
Additions  to  Esther. 
2  Maccabees. 

Arranged  according  to  the  date  of  their  com- 
position their  order  approximately  would  be — 

200-100  B.C. 
Sirach. 
Tobit. 
Judith. 
Additions  to  Daniel — 

Song  of  the  Three  Children. 

Susannah. 

Bel  and  the  Dragon. 

100-1  B.C. 

1  Maccabees. 

2  Maccabees. 
8  Maccabees. 
Book  of  Wisdom. 
1  (or  8)  Esdras. 


THE   O.  T.  APOCRYPHA         189 

Additions  to  Esther — 
Epistle  >of  Jeremy. 
Prayer  of  Manasses. 

1-100  A.D. 

1  Baruch. 

2  (or  4)  Esdras.     (This  book  is  dealt  with 
in  the  next  Chapter.) 

4  Maccabees. 

Sirach 

There  is  considerable  doubt  as  to  the  original 
form  of  the  title  of  this  book,  but  most  prob- 
ably it  was  "  The  Wisdom  of  Jesus  the  Son 
of  Sirach."  This  form  is  found  in  most  of 
the  Greek  MSS.,  while  the  Syriac  Version 
has  "Wisdom  of  the  Son  of  Sirach,"  and  some 
Latin  MSS.,  "The  Book  of  Jesus  the  Son 
of  Sirach."  In  the  Hebrew  fragments  which 
have  been  discovered  in  recent  years  the  first 
two  chapters  are  missing,  but  at  the  close  of 
the  book  the  subscription  runs,  "  The  Wisdom 
of  Simeon,  the  Son  of  Jeshua,  the  Son  of 
Eleazar,  the  Son  of  Sira,"  while  in  the  Talmud 
it  is  called  "  The  Book  of  Ben  Sira."  The  title 
"  Ecclesiasticus "  has  been  in  use  in  the 
Western  Church  since  the  third  century. 
It  gained  this  name  from  its  practical  use 
as  a  Church  Lectionary  or  "  Reading  Book." 

The  author's  name  is  variously  given  as 


190      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

"  Jesus  Sirach,"  or  "  Sirach,"  in  the  Greek 
MSS.,  as  "  Ben  Sira  "  among  the  later  Jews, 
and  in  a  lengthy  form  in  the  Hebrew  MS. 
of  Sirach,  which  is  thought  to  be  corrupt 
for  "  Jesus,  the  Son  of  Eleazar,  the  Son  of 
Sirach." 

A  broad  and  tolerant  spirit  pervades  the 
book,  and  to  enthusiasm  unless  in  its  mildest 
forms  he  is  strongly  opposed.  Though  at 
times  he  inculcates  a  disinterested  devotion 
to  virtue  and  good  works,  he  not  infrequently 
enjoins  a  line  of  conduct  that  is  merely  pru- 
dential and  self-centred.  His  work  is  invalu- 
able as  exhibiting  the  thoughts  and  views  of  a 
cultured  and  genuine  Jew  and  the  main  ques- 
tions of  his  day  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
ruling  Sadducean  priesthood. 

The  book  was  written  in  the  first  quarter 
of  the  second  century  b.c.  (200-175  B.C.). 

There  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  original 
language  of  the  book.  It  was  written  in 
Hebrew,  but  the  original  text  appears  to 
have  undergone  at  a  later  date,  as  Smend 
shows,  a  comprehensive  and  deliberate  re- 
vision undertaken  in  the  interests  of  the 
dominant  Pharisaism.  This  late  revision  of 
the  Hebrew  text  has  not  in  the  main  affected 
the  best  Greek  MSS.  As  early  probably  as 
the  last  century  B.C.  there  were  current  two 


THE   O.  T.   APOCRYPHA  191 

types  of  the  Greek  text.  The  older  type  is 
preserved  in  the  uncials  N  A  B  and  certain 
cursives,  the  later  in  the  cursives  248,  253 
and  others,  and  in  the  Old  Latin  and  Syriac 
versions.  Both  were  translated  from  the 
Hebrew.  In  the  later  type  as  found  in  the 
248  group  of  cursives  there  are  a  hundred 
and  fifty  stichoi,  which  have  no  attestation 
in  the  older  text.  But  others  are  found  in 
the  Old  Latin  and  others  still  in  the  Syriac 
version.  Hence  it  is  concluded  that  the 
divergencies  between  the  two  types  of  text 
were  originally  much  greater,  and  owing  to 
the  character  of  these  additions  and  altera- 
tions in  the  later  text  it  has  been  inferred 
that  these  were  due  to  a  Pharisaic  recension 
of  the  text. 

The  best  General  Introduction  to  the  book, 
and  English  translation  with  critical  and 
exegetical  notes  by  Box  and  Oesterley,  will 
be  found  in  Charles'  Apocrypha  and  Pseud" 
epigrapha,  i.  268-517.  See  also  Oesterley 9 
Ecclesiasticus  in  the  Cambridge  Bible  for 
Schools  and  Colleges,  1912. 

Tobit 
This  book  was  probably  written  in  Aramaic 
towards  the  close  of  the  third   century  B.C. 
Its  author  appears  to  have  belonged  to  a 


192     RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

settlement  of  orthodox  Jews  in  Egypt. 
"  Popular  religious  and  magical  speculations, 
current  mythology  and  demonology,  ethical 
and  moral  maxims  of  the  day,  traditional 
folk-lore  and  romantic  legend,  all  contributed 
their  quota  to  the  education  of  the  author. 
They  widened  his  outlook  on  life  without 
vitiating  the  spirituality  of  his  religion  or 
the  reality  of  his  adhesion  to  Judaism.  They 
endowed  him  with  the  culture  necessary  to 
a  writer  whose  appeal  was  probably  directed 
to  the  educated  pagan  as  well  as  the  enlightened 
Jew  of  the  Diaspora  in  its  early  days."  *  The 
writer  just  quoted  goes  on  to  show  that  the 
author  of  Tobit  was  indebted  mainly  to  four 
sources :  The  Old  Testament,  the  Story  of  Ahi- 
kar,  the  fable  of  the  Grateful  Dead  and  a  tractate 
of  the  god  Khons.  In  the  last  work  mentioned 
the  Egyptian  god  Khons  of  Thebes  heals,  by 
means  of  his  messenger,  a  demon-possessed 
princess  in  Ecbatana  (?).  In  Tobit,  which  was 
issued  as  a  rival  production,  it  is  Jahweh 
who  is  shown  to  possess  the  sole  sovereignty 
alike  over  the  spiritual  and  material  worlds. 
The  fable  of  the  Grateful  Dead,  which  appears 
to  have  been  current  in  nearly  every  country 

1  From  Simpson's  Introduction  to  Tobit  §  8  (Charles, 
Apocrypha  and  Pseudepigrapha,  I.  187).  This  is  the  best 
account  of  the  book  that  has  been  published. 


THE   O.T.  APOCRYPHA  193 

in  the  past,  deals  with  the  supernatural 
blessings  bestowed  by  the  departed  spirit, 
whose  body  had  owed  its  burial  solely  to  the 
self-sacrificing  kindness  of  a  stranger.  Such 
a  fable  would  naturally  appeal  to  the  ancient 
world,  which  all  but  universally  believed  that 
the  departed  spirit  suffered  in  the  world  of 
Shades  if  his  body  had  not  received  burial. 

Judith 

This  book  was  written  in  Hebrew  in  the 
last  quarter  of  the  second  century  B.C. 
No  trace  of  the  Hebrew  original  survives. 
All  the  existing  versions  go  back  through  the 
Greek  to  this  lost  original. 

The  book  is  probably  an  historical  fiction 
written  with  the  view  of  reviving  the  spirit 
of  patriotism  and  encouraging  the  Jews  to 
resist  the  oppression  of  the  Syrian  power. 
The  story  is  placed  at  the  time  of  the  Return 
from  the  Captivity.  Ball  has  shown  with 
much  probability  that  the  names  used  by 
the  author  are  pseudonyms  and  stand  for 
really  historical  persons.  Thus  Nebuchad- 
nezzar represents  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  the 
Assyrians  the  Syrians,  Nineveh  Antioch, 
and  Arphaxad  Arsaces  of  Persia,  with  whom 
Antiochus  went  to  war.  Robertson  Smith, 
Wellhausen  and  others  think  that  the  frame- 

N 


194      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

work  of  the  story  was  suggested  by  the 
campaign  of  Artaxerxes  Ochus  against  Egypt, 
Phoenicia  and  the  Jews  in  350  B.C.,  in  which 
two  of  the  generals  were  Holofernes  and 
Bagoas,  who  also  play  a  part  in  the  Book 
of  Judith.  Further,  Torrey  has  shown  that 
in  all  probability  Bethulia,  in  which  the  Jews 
were  besieged  according  to  this  book,  was 
Shechem.  Shechem  was  conquered  by  John 
Hyrcanus  within  ten  years  of  his  accession. 

A  good  account  of  the  book  together  with 
a  critical  translation  is  given  by  Cowley  in 
Charles'  Apocrypha  and  Pseudepigrapha,  i. 
242-267.  See  also  Encyc.  Bibl.,  Hastings' 
Bible  Dictionary  and  the  Jewish  Cyclopedia 
in  loc. 

Additions  to  Dandsl 
I.  The  Prayer  of  Azariah  and  the  Song  of 
the  Three  Children. — This  Addition  consists  of 
sixty-eight  verses,  and  was  inserted  in  Daniel 
after  iii.  28.  Verses  1,  2  connect  the  Addition 
with  the  narrative ;  8-22  forms  the  Prayer  of 
Azariah,  one  of  the  "  Three  Children,"  in  the 
midst  of  the  fiery  furnace;  23-27  tells  of  the 
further  heating  of  the  furnace  and  the  descent 
of  an  angel  into  the  furnace  on  behalf  of 
the  Three  Children ;  28-65— The  Song  of  the 
Three    Children,   the    Benedicite — the    well- 


THE   O.T.   APOCRYPHA  195 

known  Canticle  in  the  Anglican  Prayer  Book ; 
66-68,  a  later  addition. 

In  the  Greek  MSS.  the  three  Additions  are 
without  a  title,  but  in  A  the  present  Addition 
appears  in  the  Appendix  to  the  Psalter, 
under  the  titles  "  Prayer  of  Azarias "  and 
"  Hymn  of  the  Father,"  while  other  MSS.  give 
"  Song  of  the  Three  Children."  This  Addition 
appears  in  the  LXX  and  Theodotion  with 
only  trifling  variations. 

The  Prayer  and  the  Song  were  probably 
written  in  Hebrew :  and  have  some  organic 
connection  with  the  text — at  all  events 
verses  23-28;  for  they  help  to  explain  the 
astonishment  and  the  words  of  the  king  in 
iii.  24  seqq. 

The  Prayer  and  the  Song  appear  to  have 
been  of  quite  independent  origin.  The  former 
points  to  a  time  (ver.  15)  when  there  was 
neither  priest  nor  prophet,  neither  sacrifices 
nor  place  of  public  worship.  Hence  it  may 
have  been  written  early  in  the  Maccabean 
struggle  for  religious  liberty,  168-165  B.C. 
The  Song,  on  the  other  hand,  springs  from  a 
prosperous  period  (cf.  "  Temple  of  Thy  holy 
glory,"  ver.  31) — possibly  after  the  Maccabean 
revolt  had  become  successful. 

II.  Susannah, — This  Addition  was  placed  by 
Theodotion  before  chap.  i.  and  Bel  and  the 


196     RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

Dragon  at  its  close,  whereas  the  LXX  and 
the  Vulgate  reckoned  Susannah  as  chap.  xiii. 
after  the  twelve  canonical  chapters,  and  Bel 
and  the  Dragon  as  xiv. 

The  legend  tells  how  in  the  early  days  of 
the  Captivity  Susannah,  a  beautiful  Jewess, 
was  walking  in  her  husband's  garden  and 
was  there  seen  by  two  elders,  who  were  also 
judges.  Inflamed  with  lust  they  made  in- 
famous proposals  to  her,  and,  when  repulsed, 
they  brought  against  her  the  charge  of 
adultery.  When  charged  before  the  assembled 
people  she  was  condemned  to  death  and 
was  on  the  way  to  execution  when  a  youth, 
named  Daniel,  interposed,  and  by  examining 
the  elders  apart  proved  their  evidence  to  be 
contradictory,  and  thus  convinced  the  people 
of  the  falsity  of  the  'charge.  The  first  half  of 
the  story  appears  to  be  based  on  a  tradition 
of  two  elders,  Ahab  and  Zedekiah,  who  in  the 
Captivity  led  certain  women  astray  under 
the  delusion  that  they  should  become  the 
mother  of  the  Messiah.  But  the  latter  part 
was  written  to  illustrate  the  value  of  the  cross 
examination  of  witnesses.  Between  the  years 
95-80  B.C.  the  Pharisees  were  attempting  to 
bring  about  a  reform  in  the  administration  of 
the  law  courts.  According  to  the  Sadducees, 
a  man  convicted  of  falsely  accusing  another 


THE  O.T.  APOCRYPHA         197 

of  a  capital  offence  was  not  to  be  put  to  death 
unless  his  victim  had  already  incurred  the 
capital  penalty;  but  the  Pharisees  insisted 
on  his  execution  in  either  case.  Susannah 
was  probably  written  80-50  B.C. 

III.  Bel  and  the  Dragon. — We  have  here 
two  independent  narratives  in  both  of 
which  Daniel  appears  as  the  destroyer  of 
heathenism.  In  the  first  story  (verses  1-22) 
there  was  in  Babylon  an  image  of  Bel,  which 
Daniel  refused  to  worship  in  the  matter  of 
supplying  the  god  with  food.  When  the 
king  pointed  to  him  the  immense  quantity  of 
food  consumed  by  the  god  as  a  proof  of  his 
deity,  Daniel  rejoined  that  Bel  was  a  mere 
idol  and  ate  nothing.  Thereupon  the  king 
became  wroth,  but  Daniel  undertook  to 
prove  that  the  food  was  not  eaten  by  Bel, 
and  asked  that  the  king  should  seal  the  doors 
of  the  temple  after  the  king  had  laden  the 
table  with  food.  When  the  priests  had  de- 
parted and  before  the  doors  were  sealed, 
Daniel  had  the  floor  strewn  lightly  with 
ashes.  In  the  morning  when  the  seals  were 
broken  and  the  doors  opened,  the  food  was 
found  to  have  disappeared,  but  Daniel  showed 
the  king  by  the  traces  of  the  bare  feet  on 
the  ash-strewn  floor,  that  the  priests  had 
entered   by   secret   doors   and   removed   the 


198      RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

food.  Whereupon  the  king  had  the  priests 
put  to  death. 

In  verses  23-42  we  read  of  Daniel's  de- 
struction of  the  dragon,  which  the  people 
worshipped  with  divine  honours,  by  casting 
certain  pitchy  substances  into  its  jaws. 
When  at  the  instigation  of  the  people,  Daniel 
was  cast  into  the  lion's  den,  he  was  there 
miraculously  supplied  with  food  brought  by 
the  prophet  Habakkuk  (cf.  Ezek.  viii.  8)  from 
the  land  of  Judsea.  Habakkuk  was  carried 
by  an  angel  to  the  lions'  den  in  Babylon  by 
the  hair  of  his  head,  from  Judsea  and  back 
again. 

The  above  works  may  have  been  written 
in  Hebrew  in  the  first  century  B.C. 

On  the  above  works,  see  Bennett  in  Charles' 
Apocrypha  and  Pseudepigrapha,  i.  625-687, 
on  No.  L;  Kay  (op.  cit,  638-651)  on  No.  II.; 
and  Witton  Davies  (652-664)  on  No.  III. 

1  Maccabees 
This  book,  which  covers  the  period  of 
forty  years  from  the  accession  of  Antiochus 
Epiphanes  (175  B.C.)  to  the  death  of  Simon 
the  Maccabee  (135  B.C.),  forms  the  chief 
historical  source  we  have  for  the  Jewish 
struggle  for  religious  and  civil  independence 
during  these  years.     It   begins   with  a  brief 


THE   O.  T.   APOCRYPHA  199 

sketch  of  the  conquests  of  Alexander  the 
Great,  and  proceeds  to  the  invasion  and 
oppression  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes.  It  is 
then  shown  how  the  attempt  of  this  Syrian 
monarch  to  destroy  the  religion  and  national- 
ity of  the  Jews  led  to  the  national  revolt 
under  the  Maccabees.  Having  so  introduced 
his  subject,  the  author  recounts  the  struggle 
for  independence,  beginning  with  Mattathias 
and  closing  with  Simon  and  a  brief  reference 
to  John  Hyrcanus. 

The  actual  title  of  the  book  in  its  original 
form  is  unknown.  The  Greek  title,  rd 
MaK/caPai'tcd,  is  derived  from  the  surname 
applied  to  Judas  (1  Mace.  ii.  4,  66),  and  subse- 
quently to  all  the  sons  of  Mattathias.  Origen 
(Euseb.,  Hist  Eccl.  vi.  25,  2)  gives  as  a  trans- 
literation of  the  title  Zapfifjd  ZafiavieX 
(=  >SDBtfn  ftd  -»  =  «  Book  of  the  Has- 
monaeans ").  But  this  title  is  Aramaic, 
whereas  the  original  is  now  generally  taken 
to  have  been  written  in  Hebrew. 

The  author  is  with  good  reason  held  to 
have  been  a  Sadducee  of  a  deeply  religious 
type.  Thus  he  was  zealous  for  the  Law,  the 
religious  institutions  of  the  nation,  the  Scrip- 
tures and  the  Temple.  The  priesthood  are 
throughout  represented  in  a  favourable  light 
and  there  is  no  reference  to  the  renegade 


200      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

priests,  Jason  and  Menelaus.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  marked  off  from  the  later  work, 
2  Maccabees,  in  that  it  does  not  once  refer 
to  the  immortality  of  the  soul  or  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  dead  in  contexts  where  such  a 
reference  would  have  been  natural.  Hence 
a  Pharisaic  authorship  appears  to  be  excluded, 

The  book  was  written  probably  in  Palestine 
137-105  B.C. 

The  chief  commentaries  are  as  follows  : 

Grimm  in  Kurzgefasstes  exeg.  Handbuch 
(1853).  Fairweather  and  Black,  The 
First  Book  of  Maccabees  (1897).  Oester- 
ley  in  Charles'  Apoc.  and  Pseudep.,  i. 
59-124. 

2  Maccabees 

2  Maccabees  is  an  anonymous  digest 
(ii.  26,  28)  of  a  larger  work  of  five  books  on 
Maccabean  history,  which  had  been  composed 
by  one  Jason  of  Cyrene.  It  covers  only  a  period 
of  fifteen  years,  i.  e.  from  176  to  the  death 
of  Nicanor  161  B.C.  It  is  thus  not  a  sequel 
to  1  Maccabees  but  a  second  book  on  the 
Maccabean  struggle. 

Neither  the  date  of  Jason  nor  that  of  this 
work  can  be  determined  except  within  apj 
proximate  limits.     The  inferior  limit  is  fixe* 


THE  O.T.  APOCRYPHA  201 

by  the  use  of  2  Maccabees  in  4  Maccabees 
and  Philo,  while  the  superior  limit  is  set  by 
the  date  of  Nicanor's  defeat  by  Judas  in 
161  B.C.  Although  the  epitomizer  was  a 
Pharisee,  he  appears  to  have  been  an  opponent 
of  the  Maccabean  dynasty.  If  this  bias  of 
the  book  is  emphasized,  then  the  superior 
limit  is  brought  down  to  108-106  B.C.,  when 
the  breach  between  John  Hyrcanus  and  the 
Pharisees  took  place.  At  all  events  2  Mac- 
cabees may  be  reasonably  referred  to  the  first 
half  of  the  first  century  B.C.  (See  Moffatt  in 
Charles'  Apoc.  and  Pseudep.) 

The  epitomizer's  interests  are  religious  rather 
than  historical.  In  fact,  his  history  is  faulty 
in  many  respects,  where  the  truer  view  is  to 
be  found  in  1  Maccabees.  On  the  other  hand, 
Niese  has  succeeded  in  establishing  the 
historicity  of  2  Maccabees  in  certain  details 
that  are  peculiar  to  it.  It  is  further  worth 
observing  that  its  eschatological  outlook  as 
regards  the  nature  of  the  resurrection  and 
the  scene  of  the  Messianic  kingdom  belongs 
essentially  to  the  second  century  B.C. 

3  Maccabees 
The  scene  of  this  book  is  laid  in  the  reign 
^f  Ptolemy  IV  (Philopater),  at  the  time  of  the 
oattle  of  Raphia,  217  B.C.     It  was  apparently 


202      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

written  about  100  B.C.,  and  combines  in  its 
narrative  two  distinct  incidents — Ptolemy  IV's 
attempt  to  enter  the  Temple,  and  a  persecution 
of  the  Jews  in  Egypt  by  Ptolemy  Physcon. 

"  The  book,"  according  to  Mr.  Emmet's 
excellent  study  (Charles'  Apocrypha  and  Pseud- 
epigrapha,  i.  162),  "  seems  to  belong  to  the 
strict  and  conservative  school  of  the  Chasidim, 
devoted  to  the  Law,  and  finding  its  inspiration 
in  the  lessons  of  national  history  (ii.  2-20,  vi. 
1-15).  It  expresses  a  bitter  opposition  to  the 
attempts  at  hellenizing,  which  so  nearly  over- 
whelmed Judaism  in  the  second  century  B.C., 
and  shows  no  sympathy  with  the  developments 
of  thought  and  doctrine,  which  at  that  time 
were  growing  up  within  the  Jewish  Church." 
.  .  .  There  are  no  references  to  the  Messianic 
hope,  or  "  the  future  life." 

The  Wisdom  of  Solomon 
This  very  attractive  book  is  a  pseud- 
epigraph.  There  can  be  no  question  that  its 
author,  or  at  all  events  the  author  of  vii.-ix., 
assumes  the  role  of  Solomon  and  intended  his 
readers  to  accept  it  as  of  Solomonic  author- 
ship. Hence  the  title  given  in  the  Greek 
Uncials  s  A  B  as  oo(f>t  a  ZdKa^ubvoq  (or  variants 
of  the  same)  is  perfectly  justifiable.  In 
other   sources    it   is    variously    described   as 


THE   O.T.   APOCRYPHA         208 

u  The  Allvirtuous  Wisdom,"  "  The  Book  of 
Wisdom,"  "  The  Divine  Wisdom,"  etc. 

Scholars  have  for  over  a  century  differed  as 
to  the  unity  and  homogeneity  of  the  book. 
In  1777,  Houbigant  was  of  opinion  that  the 
earlier  chapters  had  originally  been  written 
in  Hebrew  by  Solomon,  and  that  a  later 
writer  had  translated  these  and  subjoined  the 
rest  himself.  Eichhorn  divided  the  book 
into  two  parts,  i.-xi.  1,  written  in  the  author's 
mature  years,  and  xi.  2-xix.,  written  in  his 
youth.  Eichhorn's  analysis  has  been  accepted 
by  Holmes  (Charles'  Apoc.  and  Pseudepigrapha, 
i.  821-324),  and  substantiated  by  a  philo- 
logical study  of  the  Greek.  Another  line  is 
taken  by  Goodrick,  Book  of  Wisdom,  1913, 
pp.  72  seqq.  He  is  of  opinion  that  the  book 
falls  into  three  sections,  i.-vi.  23,  vii.-ix., 
and  x.-xix.,  written  by  one  and  the  same 
author;  the  last  section,  exhibiting  a  very 
faulty  knowledge  of  Greek,  was  written  in 
his  early  years,  i.-vi.  23,  at  a  later  date, 
representing  "  the  writer's  Greek  at  its  best :  " 
and  vii.-ix.  in  the  latest  period  of  his 
development.  This  theory  is  very  specious 
at  first  sight,  but  it  breaks  down,  when  tested 
by  the  facts  brought  to  light  by  Holmes. 
This  scholar  has  taken  i.-x.  as  a  whole,  and 
contrasted    it    with    xi.-xix.     As    Goodrick 


204      RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

(p.  70)  remarks,  "  the  learner  of  a  new  language, 
if  he  belongs  to  an  intelligent  race  accus- 
tomed to  fluency  of  talk,  is  apt  to  appro- 
priate the  rhetorical  element  in  the  foreign 
tongue  almost  before  he  learns  its  grammar." 
To  this  statement  no  objection  can  be  made, 
but  combined  with  the  facts  that  emerge 
from  a  philological  scrutiny  of  the  text,  it 
makes  havoc  of  Goodrick's  theory.  According 
to  this  theory  we  should  find  the  Greek 
particles  seldom  used  in  part  2 — xi.-xix., 
and  frequently  used  in  part  1 — i.-x.  But 
Holmes  has  shown  that  y£v  is  used  27  times 
in  part  2,  but  only  3  times  in  part  1;  bi 
82  times  in  part  2,  but  52  in  part  1 ;  tva 
21  times  in  part  2  and  7  in  part  1 ;  aWd  17 
times  in  part  2  and  4  in  part  1 ;  yap  102 
times  in  part  2  and  52  in  part  1.  An  examina- 
tion of  ten  other  particles  by  Holmes  results 
in  the  conclusion  that  these  occur  5  times 
more  frequently  in  part  2  than  in  part  1. 
But  this  is  not  all.  If  we  take  individual 
particles  such  as  &v  (which  occurs  4  times 
in  part  2,  2  in  part  1),  then  over  against 
one  idiomatic  use  of  &v  in  part  1,  we  have 
3  in  part  2,  i.  e.  in  xiv.  4  (same  use  as  in  part  1), 
xi.  24,  25  (with  aor.  indicative  to  express  an 
impossible  supposition),  and  in  xv.  12,  where 
k&v  is  used  with  the  suppression  of  the  verb. 


THE   O.T.  APOCRYPHA  205 

Again,  while  Iva  is  used  3  times  as  often  in 
part  2  as  in  part  1,  it  is  also  used  in  two 
idiomatic  meanings  in  part  2  (one  of  these 
in  xv.  4,  being  very  rare  and  late),  but  only 
in  one  in  part  1. 

From  these  facts  it  follows  that  the  writer 
of  part  2  made  a  much  more  frequent  use 
of  the  Greek  particles  and  shows  a  greater 
acquaintance  with  their  various  uses.  The 
obvious  conclusion  is  that  the  two  parts  come 
from  distinct  authors.1  It  is  not  likely  that 
a  man,  who  was  according  to  Goodrick's 
theory  steadily  mastering  the  Greek  language, 
should  show  less  knowledge  or  make  less  use 
of  exactly  those  parts  of  the  language  which 
testified  to  a  knowledge  of  the  language. 

The  Book  of  Wisdom  has  been  variously 
dated.  Grimm  dates  the  book  145-50  B.C.; 
Gregg,  125-100  B.C.;  Holmes,  50-30  B.C.  for 
part  1,  and  30  b.c.-a.d.  10  for  part  2.  Good- 
rick,  a.d.  37-41. 

The  books  falls  into  three  parts.  The  first 
part,  i.-vi.  8,  deals  with  eschatological 
questions :  the  second,  vi.  9-xi.  1,  is  a 
glorification  of  wisdom;    and  the  third  part, 

1  This  argument  from  the  linguistic  side,  which  is  here 
only  touched  on,  but  ought  to  be  fully  worked  out,  is 
substantiated  by  the  form  and  nature  of  the  contents  of 
the  book. 


206      RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

xi.  2-xix.  is  of  the  nature  of  a  Jewish 
Midrash,  the  primary  object  of  which  is  the 
glorification  of  the  Jews. 

Literature.  Gregg's  serviceable  Commen- 
tary in  the  Cambridge  Bible,  1909,  Holmes' 
Commentary  in  Charles'  Apocrypha  and  Pseud- 
epigrapha,  i.  518-568,  which  forms  an  un- 
doubted contribution  to  the  subject,  and 
Goodrick's  The  Book  of  Wisdom,  1913,  which 
constitutes  a  veritable  treasury  of  learning  on 
the  book,  though  many  of  the  conclusions 
appear  questionable. 

I  Esdras 

This  book  has  been  variously  entitled  as 
1  Esdras  in  the  Greek  Uncials  A  B,  in  the 
Latin  and  Syriac  Versions,  and  in  English 
Bibles  since  the  Genevan  edition  of  1560; 
and  as  3  Esdras  in  Latin  Bibles  since  the  time 
of  Jerome.  This  latter  designation  is  found 
also  in  the  "  Great  Bible  "  and  in  the  Sixth 
of  the,  Thirty-nine  Articles. 

1  Esdras  was  used  by  Josephus,  who 
observes  the  order  of  events  as  given  in  it, 
and  is  influenced  by  its  language.  In  the 
chief  Greek  Uncials  it  precedes  the  Canonical 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah.  Many  scholars  have 
regarded  it  as  a  recast  of  the  Greek  transla- 
tions of  Ezra  and  parts  of  Nehemiah  and 


THE   O.  T.   APOCRYPHA  207 

Chronicles,  but  the  prevailing  view  now  is 
that  it  is  translated  from  a  Hebrew  or 
Aramaic  original.  As  far  back  as  1644 
Grotius  suggested  that  it  was  an  independent 
version  older  than  the  Greek  of  the  Canonical 
books — a  suggestion  that  has  been  accepted 
and  confirmed  by  many  scholars,  including 
Howorth  and  Torrey.  Furthermore,  the 
Greek  Version  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  the  original  LXX.  At 
all  events  it  shows  undoubted  affinities  with 
that  of  Theodotion's  version  of  Daniel,  while 
1  Esdras  exhibits  no  less  indubitable  affinities 
with  the  LXX  of  Daniel,  and  the  Syriac 
Version  of  1  Esdras  claims  to  be  made  from 
the  LXX.  1  Esdras,  therefore,  holds  to-day 
a  more  authoritative  position  than  it  has 
since  the  days  of  Jerome.  It  can  no  longer 
be  taken  for  granted  that  the  Massoretic 
text  with  its  Greek  translation  represents 
throughout  a  more  trustworthy  record  of 
the  period  it  deals  with,  and  that  1  Esdras 
is  less  veracious  and  arbitrary.  Imperfections 
of  a  serious  character  attach  to  both. 

With  the  exception  of  one  original  section — 
that  of  Darius  and  the  three  young  men, 
1  Esdras  contains  essentially  the  same 
materials  as  Ezra  and  parts  of  Nehemiah 
and  2  Chronicles.     The  beginning  of  the  book 


208     RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

seems  imperfect ;  its  conclusion  is  undoubtedly 
so,  as  it  breaks  off  in  the  middle  of  a  sentence. 
The  date  of  the  book  lies  between  300  B.C. 
and  a.d.  100,  when  it  was  used  by  Josephus. 
Cook  assigns  it  to  the  first  century  B.C. 
His  conclusion  as  to  the  relative  value  of  the 
two  works  is  a„  follows  (Charles'  Apoc.  and 
Pseudep.,  i.  19).  "  All  the  data  suggest  that 
1  Esdras  and  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  represent 
concurrent  forms  which  have  influenced  each 
other  in  the  earlier  stages  of  their  growth. 
They  are  rivals,  and  neither  can  be  said  to 
be  wholly  older  or  more  historical  than  the 
other.  The  endeavour  was  made  to  correct 
1  Esdras  to*  agree  with  the  Massoretic  text 
.  .  .  and  the  presence  of  such  efforts  and 
in  particular  of  the  doublets  are  of  essential 
importance  in  indicating  that  1  Esdras' 
text  does  not  precisely  represent  a  Hebrew- 
Aramaic  work,  and  that  when  all  allowance  is 
made  for  correction  and  revision  of  the  Greek, 
problems  of  the  underlying  original  text  still 
remain.  But  it  was  impossible  to  make 
any  very  satisfactory  adjustment.  1  Esdras 
diverged  too  seriously  from  the  Massoretic, 
which  had  cut  the  chronological  knot  by  the 
excision  of  the  story  of  Zerubbabel,  and  we 
may  suppose  that  this  facilitated  the  desire  for 
the  more  literal  translation  of  Theodotion." 


THE   O.T.  APOCRYPHA  209 

The  contents  of  1  Esdras  with  their  parallels 
in  Chronicles,  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  are  here 
subjoined. 

Chap.  i.  =  2      Chron.    xxxv.     1-xxxvi.     21. 

Josiah's  passover  and  death;  his 
successors  down  to  586  B.C. 

ii.  1-15  =  Ezra  i.  Edict  of  Cyrus  and 
the  restoration  of  the  sacred  vessels 
to  Jerusalem. 

ii.  16-30  =  Ezra  iv.  7-24.  Opposition 
of  the  Samaritans  to  the  rebuilding 
of  the  Temple  in  the  reign  of 
Artaxerxes,  465-425  B.C.      *  ^! 

iii.  1-v.  6.  This  section  is  peculiar  to 
1  Esdras.  Contest  of  the  three 
pages  at  the  court  of  Darius  and 
the  victory  of  Zerubbabel,  to  whom 
Darius  decrees  as  a  reward  the 
return  of  the  Jews  and  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Temple. 

V.  7-73  =  Ezra  ii.  1-iv.  5,  23.  List  of 
Exiles  who  returned  with  Zerub- 
babel. Rebuilding  of  the  Temple 
prevented  till  the  second  year  of 
Darius  (520). 

vi.-vii.  =  Ezra  v.-vi.  Temple  rebuilt 
(516)  under  Zerubbabel. 

viii.  1-ix.    36  =  Ezra   vii.-x.     Return 


210     RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

of    Exiles    under    Ezra.      Mixed 
marriages  forbidden. 
ix.  37-55  =  Neh.     vii.     73-viii.     13a. 
The  reading  of  the  Law  by  Ezra. 

A  most  thoroughgoing  and  judicious  ac- 
count is  given  by  S.  A.  Cook  (Charles'  Apoc. 
and  Pseudep.,  i.  1-58). 

Additions  to  Esther 

These  additions  were  originally  written  in 
Greek  and  subsequently  interpolated  in  the 
LXX  version  of  the  canonical  book  of  Esther. 
They  consist  of  six  passages,  which  are  in- 
geniously distinguished  by  Dr.  Swete  in  his 
edition  of  The  Old  Testament  in  Greek  by  the 
letters  A,  B,  C.  D,  E,  F,  and  their  contents  are 
as  follows  : 

A.  Mordecai's  dream  and  the  conspiracy  of 
the  two  eunuchs.  This  is  prefixed  as  an 
introduction  to  the  canonical  book.  The 
statement  in  this  addition  (ver.  2)  that 
Mordecai  was  already  in  the  king's  service 
in  the  second  year  of  his  reign  conflicts  with 
Esther  ii.  16,  which  speaks  of  the  seventh 
year;  also  that  in  A  13  that  Mordecai  had 
informed  the  king  of  the  conspiracy  of  the 
eunuchs  conflicts  with  Esther  ii.  21-23,  and 
that  in  A  16  that  Mordecai  had  been  rewarded 


THE   O.  T.   APOCRYPHA  211 

conflicts  with  Esther  vi.  3,  4,  while  A  17  is  at 
variance  with  Esther  iii.  5. 

B.  The  edict  of  the  king  decreeing  the 
destruction  of  the  Jews.  This  addition  follows 
Esther  iii.  13. 

C.  The  prayers  of  Mordecai  and  Esther 
following  on  Esther  iv.  17. 

D.  Esther's  appearance  before  the  king. 
This  addition  follows  immediately  on  the 
preceding,  and  is  an  amplification  of  the 
events  in  Esther  v.  1-2. 

E.  The  king's  second  edict,  cancelling  the 
former  edict  and  decreeing  the  protection  of 
the  Jews.  This  follows  Esther  viii.  12.  In 
this  addition  (ver.  22)  the  Persians  as  well  as 
the  Jews  are  required  to  keep  the  feast  of 
Purim.     Contrast  Esther  ix.  20-28. 

F.  The  interpretation  of  Mordecai's  dream. 
This  follows  Esther  x.  3. 

These  six  additions  do  not  appear  to  be 
from  one  and  the  same  hand.  They  may 
have  been  written  in  the  time  of  the  Macca- 
bees. Their  aim  in  part,  at  all  events,  was  to 
supply  the  religious  element  which  is  com- 
pletely lacking  in  the  canonical  work. 

In  the  Vulgate  these  additions  were  all 
relegated  to  the  end  of  the  canonical  book 
by  Jerome — an  action  that  rendered  them 
meaningless.     The  Old  Latin,  however,  con- 


212      RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

tains  the  six  additions  in  their  original  settings 
save  that  it  omits  some  verses  in  A,  and 
contributes  others  peculiar  to  itself  in  B, 
C  and  D. 

The  Greek  appears  in  four  forms — in  the 
unrevised  text  of  the  third  century;  A,  B 
and  some  cursives ;  in  Origen's  recension,  and 
in  the  Hesychian  and  Lucianic  recensions. 

See  Gregg  (Charles'  Apoc.  and  Pseudep.,  i. 
665-684). 

The  Epistle  of  Jeremy 

The  Epistle  of  Jeremy  purports  to  have 
been  written  by  Jeremiah  to  the  Exiles  who 
were  already  in  Babylon.  The  fact  that 
Jeremiah  (xxix.  1  seqq.)  was  known  to  have 
written  such  a  letter  may  have  suggested  to 
a  later  Jew  the  idea  of  a  second  epistolary 
undertaking  and  other  passages  of  Jeremiah 
(x.  1-16,  xxix.  4-23)  may  have  determined  its 
character  and  contents. 

The  writer  warns  the  Exiles  that  they  are 
to  remain  in  captivity  seven  generations 
(ver.  3).  It  is  not  improbable  that  these 
words  give  a  clue  to  the  time  of  our  author. 
If,  as  Ball  proposes,  we  allow  forty  years  for 
each  generation  the  seven  generations  would 
embrace  a4  period  of  280  years.  If  now  we 
reckon  with  Ball  from  586  b.c.?  the  date  of 


THE   O.T.  APOCRYPHA  213 

the  final  captivity,  we  are  brought  to  the 
year  306  B.C.  The  Babylon  referred  to  is 
the  actual  Babylon  where  large  numbers  of 
the  Jews  had  settled  and  adopted  >  in  large 
measure  the  manners  and  customs  of  the 
land  of  their  exile,  and  assumed  Babylonian 
names,  which  implied  at  all  events  an  identifi- 
cation of  Yahweh  with  Bel-Merodach  or 
Nebo.  The  writer  in  ver.  43  refers  to  the 
extraordinary  manner  in  which  the  Baby- 
lonians were  accustomed  to  honour  the  god- 
dess Mylitta  (=  Aphrodite),  and  which  had 
already  been  observed  by  Herodotus,  i.  199. 
Other  incidental  references  to  various  features 
in  the  Babylonian  religion  are,  as  Ball  points 
out,  to  be  found  in  vers.  4,  11,  15,  30-32,  41. 

This  letter  has  been  generally  regarded  as 
having  been  written  in  Greek,  but  Ball  has 
shown  that  it  is  only  through  retranslation 
into  Hebrew  that  the  meaning  of  the  text  can 
be  recovered  with  tolerable  certainty  in  vers. 
11,  54,  72,  and  with  much  probability  in 
others. 

The  writer  admonishes  his  readers  to  hold 
aloof  from  all  idol-worship;  for  that  idols 
were  nothing  save  the  work  of  men's  hands 
without  powers  of  speech,  hearing  or  self- 
preservation.  They  could  not  benefit  their 
worshippers  in  the  smallest  concerns  of  life; 


214      RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

they  were  indifferent  to*  their  moral  qualities, 
and  of  less  worth  than  the  commonest  house- 
hold utensils. 

The  best  study  of  this  book  from  the 
linguistic  side  is  that  of  Ball  in  Charles' 
Apocrypha  and  Pseudepigrapha,  i.  596-611. 

The  Prayer  of  Manasses 
This  fine  penitential  prayer,  the  style  of 
which  is  dignified  and  simple,  falls  naturally 
into  three  parts  :  (1)  invocation  to  the  God 
of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  the  Creator  of 
heaven  and  earth,  who  is  of  great  compassion, 
longsuffering  and  abundant  in  mercy,  who 
has  promised  forgiveness  that  sinners  may 
repent  and  appointed  repentance  that  men 
may  be  saved  (vers.  1-7);  (2)  a  confession 
of  sin  (vers.  8-10);  (3)  a  supplication  for 
forgiveness  (vers.  11-15). 

The  preservation  of  this  prayer  we  owe 
to  an  early  Christian  writing^  entitled  the 
Didascalia,  which  was  subsequently  incorpor- 
ated into  the  Apostolical  Constitutions — a 
work  of  the  fourth  or  fifth  century.  From  its 
place  in  the  Apostolical  Constitutions  it  was 
probably  copied  into  the  LXX,  where  it  is 
now  found  in  some  uncials  and  many  cursives. 
As  regards  the  date  Ryle  says  no  more 
than  that  it  is  earlier  than  the  third  century 


THE   O.T.   APOCRYPHA  215 

a.d.  The  fact,  however,  that  it  is  of  Jewish 
authorship  enables  us  to  fix  an  earlier  limit; 
for  it  is  not  likely  that  the  Christians  would 
have  adopted  a  Jewish  work  after  a.d.  130. 
Fritzsche,  Ball  and  Ryssel  favour  a  Maccabean 
date,  but  there  are  not  sufficient  materials  at 
hand  to  define  it  exactly. 

As  regards  the  originaj  language  Ewald 
was  of  opinion  that  Greek  was  the  original 
language.  Ball  takes  it  to  be  a  free  rendering 
of  a  lost  haggadic  narrative  based  on  the 
older  document,  from  which  the  chronicler 
in  2  Chron.  xxxiii.  12  seq.,  18  seq.  drew  his 
information.  Fritzsche  and  Schurer  favour 
a  Greek  original,  the  fullest  evidence  for  which 
is  given  by  Ryle,  who,  notwithstanding,  is 
not  definitely  opposed  to  the  hypothesis  of 
a  Hebrew  original.  The  present  writer  has 
sought  to  show  that  only  by  retranslation 
into  Hebrew  (or  Aramaic)  can  certain  cor- 
ruptions in  the  text  be  removed. 

For  most  scholarly  commentaries  see  Ryle 
(Charles'  Apoc.  and  Pseudep.,  i.  612-624) :  and 
Ball  in  the  Speaker's  Commentary,  Apocrypha, 
ii.  361-371. 

1  Baruch  (The  Book  of  Baruch) 
This  book  falls  naturally  into  three  parts  : 
(A)  i.-iii.  8,  (B)  iii.  9-iv.  4  and  (C)  iv.  5-v. 


216      RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

A.  i.  2,  3&-iii.  8.  This  is  a  prose  work  and 
consists  of  an  Introduction,  i.  1-14  in  which 
it  is  stated  that  Baruch  wrote  this  book  in 
Babylon  and  sent  it  to  the  high  priest  in 
Jerusalem  with  the  request  that  it  should  be 
read  and  confession  of  sin  made  on  the  feast 
day  in  God's  house.  The  confession  then 
follows,  i.  15— ii.  5  intended  for  the  use  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Judah  and  ii.  6-iii.  8  of  the 
Exiles. 

B.  i.  1,  3a,  iii.  9-iv.  4.  This  section  is 
written  in  verse  :  it  sets  forth  the  cause  of 
Israel's  sufferings  and  exile  and  the  source 
whence  wisdom  is  to  be  found. 

C.  iv.  5-v.  This  section,  also  in  verse,  begins 
with  a  lamentation  of  Jerusalem  over  her 
children  and  the  assurance  of  deliverance  and 
everlasting  joy,  iv.  5-29,  and  closes  with  God's 
words' of  consolation  addressed  to  Jerusalem, 
iv.  30-v.,  in  which  are  foretold  the  triumphant 
return  of  her  children. 

As  regards  the  original  language  many  of 
the  earlier  critics  held  that  the  original  was 
in  Greek,  but  later  scholars — Ewald,  Hitzig 
and  Kneucker — advocate  a  Hebrew  original. 
Marshall  is  of  opinion  that  i.-iii.  8  was  written 
in  Hebrew,  iii.  9-iv.  4  in  Aramaic  and  iv.  5-v. 
in  Greek.  The  latest  critic — Dr.  Whitehouse 
— takes  the  three  sections   A,  B,  C,  to   be 


THE  O.T.  APOCRYPHA  217 

derived  from  three  different  authors,  A  and 
B  having  been  written  in  Hebrew  and  C  in 
Greek.  This  is  the  view  also  of  Schurer  and 
others.  But  the  present  writer  is  of  opinion 
that  C  was  written  in  Hebrew,  and  that  C 
and  Ps.  Sol.  xi.  in  their  present  Greek  form  are 
independent  renderings  of  the  same  original. 

Ewald  assigns  A  to  the  period  subsequent 
to  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem  by  Ptolemy  I. 
320  B.C.  :  Fritzsche  and  Toy  to  the  time  of 
the  Maccabees  :  Schurer  and  Whitehouse  to 
a  date  subsequent  to  a.d.  70.  The  entire 
silence  of  the  book  on  questions  of  the  Messiah, 
the  future  life,  the  resurrection,  are  in  favour 
of  an  earlier  date  than  that  assumed  by 
Schurer  and  Whitehouse.  In  fact  A  (cf.  ii. 
17)  does  not  seem  to  have  advanced  beyond 
the  ancient  conception  of  Sheol  in  the  Old 
Testament,  and  possibly  belongs  to  the  early 
decades  of  the  second  century  B.C. 

It  is  assumed  by  some  scholars  that  Daniel 
ix.  4-19  is  the  source  from  which  much  of  the 
phraseology  in  1  Baruch  i.  15— ii.  17  is  de- 
rived. But  this  is  an  unproved  hypothesis. 
Daniel  ix.  4-19  is  in  all  probability  itself 
an  interpolation  in  Daniel;  for  in  ix.  16 
the  very  words  show  that  the  prayer  was 
written  by  a  resident  in  Judaea.  For  an 
enumeration  of  the  grounds  for  excising  these 


218      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

verses  in  Daniel  see  Von  Gall's  Die  Eiriheit- 
lichkeit  des  Buches  Daniel  and  the  present 
writer's  Commentary  on  Daniel,  pp.  96-97. 

The  best  book  oh  the  subject  in  English 
is  by  Whitehouse  (Charles'  Apoc.  and  Pseudep., 
i.  569-595). 

The  Fourth  Book  of  Maccabees 
The  Fourth  Book  of  Maccabees  is  a  homily 
or  lecture  addressed  to  Jews  only.  Its  title 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  main  part  of  its 
material  is  based  on  the  record  of  the  Macca- 
bean  martyrs  given  in  2  Mace.  vi.  18-viii.  22. 
Its  use  of  Jewish  history  is  with  a  view  to 
edification.  But  the  book  has  further  a 
distinctly  philosophical  character,  and  it 
appears  at  a  comparatively  early  date  with 
the  title  On  the  Supreme  Power  of  Reason. 
But  it  is  not  with  the  mere  reason  as  such 
that  our  author  is  concerned,  but  the  pious 
reason,  and  at  the  outset  he  states  that  it  is 
his  intention  to  show  that  the  pious  reason 
is  the  complete  master  of  the  passions.  In  a 
single  sentence  (i.  12)  in  his  prologue  he  states 
the  nature  and  scope  of  his  discourse,  i.  e. 
first,  a  philosophical  discussion  of  the  pro- 
position that  the  pious  reason  is  the  master 
of  the  passions ;  and  secondly,  the  illustration 
of  this  truth  in  the  history  of  the  martyrs. 
Thus  the  rest  of  the  book  falls  into  two  parts. 


THE   O.T.   APOCRYPHA  219 

The  first  (i.  13— Hi.  18)  defines  the  various 
terms  and  attempts  to  show  that  the  passions 
are  under  the  lordship  of  the  pious  reason. 
The  second  part  embraces  the  rest  of  the 
discourse  and  deals  at  length  with  the  noble 
testimony  of  Eleazar,  the  seven  youths  and 
their  mother  to  the  Law  of  God,  their  fortitude 
and  martyrdom.        ' 

The  homily  is  the  work  of  a  man  of  culture. 
Though  primarily  aiming  at  enforcing  a 
religious  end  it  makes  prominent  at  the 
beginning  its  philosophical  character.  The 
philosophy  is  of  a  Stoic  type.  He  accepts 
"  the  four  cardinal  virtues,"  but  he  rejects 
the  Stoic  doctrine  that  the  passions  are  to 
be  extirpated.  The  passions,  he  holds,  were 
implanted  by  God  and  are  not  to  be  rooted 
out  but  to  be  brought  under  the  control  of 
the  pious  reason.  His  philosophy,  therefore, 
does  not  run  counter  to  his  faith.  He  preaches 
a  Judaism  of  the  most  thoroughgoing  type  and 
displays  a  zeal  for  the  ceremonial  law  worthy 
of  any  Pharisee.  Only  the  adherents  of  this 
faith  were  capable  of  attaining  virtue.  But 
while  he  holds  fast  to  legalistic  Judaism, 
he  betrays  his  Hellenistic  Judaism  by  teach- 
ing, not  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  (as  in 
2  Mace),  but  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 

See  Townshend  in  Charles'  Apoc.  and 
Pseudep.,  ii.  653-685. 


220      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 
CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  PSEUDEPIGRAPHA  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT 

The  books  of  this  division  are  on  the  whole 
rightly  named  Pseudepigrapha,1  or  works 
written  under  an  assumed  name.  It  is 
obvious,  however,  that  the  Book  of  Wisdom 
and  4  Ezra,  which  are  classed  under  the 
Apocrypha  proper,  belong  really  to  this 
division. 

In  the  present  work  we  are  concerned 
mainly  with  the  non-Canonical  Pseudepi- 
grapha, ,  though  we  shall  have  occasion  to 
refer  to  canonical  members  of  this  group. 
Thus,  only  to  mention  those  which  most 
nearly  concern  us,  we  have  the  following 
Pseudepigraphs  in  the  Old  Testament. 

i.  Canonical. 

Isaiah    xxiv.-xxvii.,    xxxiii.,    xxxiv.- 

xxxv. 
Ezekiel  ii.  8;    xxxviii.-xxxix. 
Joel  iii.  9-17. 
Zechariah  ix.-xiv. 
Ecclesiastes. 
Daniel. 

1  For  the  main  grounds  for  the  origin  of  this  class  of 
literature  in  Judaism,  see  pp.  35-46. 


THE   O.T.  PSEUDEPIGRAPHA    221 

To  one  or  more  members  of  this  enumera- 
tion some  doubt  may  attach  as  to  whether 
they  were  anonymous  or  pseudepigraphic. 
The  bulk  of  them,  however,  are  most  prob- 
ably the  latter,  and  were  written  after  200 

B.C. 

Since  the  Pseudepigrapha  as  a  whole  were 
apocalyptic  in  character  we  shall  simply 
divide  them  into  Palestinian  and  Hellenistic, 
arranged  according  to  the  certain  or  probable 
dates  of  their  composition. 

ii.  Non-Canonical. 


•* 


(a)  Palestinian,  200-101  B.C. 

Book  of  Noah. 

1  Enoch  vi.-xxxvi.,  lxxii.-xc. 
Testaments  of  the  XII.  Patriarchs. 
Book  of  Jubilees — Haggadic  in  char- 
acter. 

100-1    B.C. 

1  Enoch  i.-v.,  xxxvii.-lxxi.,  xci.-civ. 

Additions  to  Testaments  of  the  XII. 
Patriarchs,  i.  e.  T.  Lev.  x.,  xiv.-xvi., 
T.  Jud.  xxi.  6-xxiii.,  T.  Zeb.  ix., 
T.  Dan.  v.  6,  7. 

Psalms  of  Solomon. 

Fragments  of  a  Zadokite  Work. 


222      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

1-100  A.D. 
Assumption  of  Moses. 
2  Baruch  or  the  Syriac  Apocalypse  of 

Baruch. 
4  Ezra. 

(b)  Hellenistic. 

Letter  of  Aristeas. 

2  Enoch  or  the  Book  of  the  Secrets  of 

Enoch  (1-50  a.d.). 
Sibylline  Oracles  (from  second  century 

B.C.  to  first  century  a.d.,  excluding 

Christian  portions). 

I  shall  now  give  a  short  description  of  the 
above  works. 

Book  of  Noah 

Though  this  book  has  not  come  down  to  us 
independently,  it  has  been  in  part  preserved 
in  1  Enoch.  Of  the  existence  of  this  book  we 
know  independently  from  the  Book  of  Jubilees 
x.  13,  xxi.  10,  and  of  a  Book  of  Noah  from 
later  Hebrew  sources.  But  as  we  have  already 
stated  considerable  fragments  of  the  older 
work  have  been  preserved.  Thus  the  con- 
tents of  1  Enoch  lx.,  lxv.-lxix.  25,  prove  con- 
clusively that  they  are  from  this  source  :  also 
those  of  cvi.-cvii.  Furthermore,  vi.-xi.  are 
derived  from  the  same  work.     These  chapters 


THE   O.T.   PSEUDEPIGRAPHA    223 

refer  not  to  Enoch  but  to  Noah.  Moreover, 
where  the  author  of  Jubilees  in  vii.  20-25 
describes  the  laws  laid  down  by  Noah  for 
his  children  and  Noah's  accounts  of  the  evils 
that  had  brought  the  Flood  upon  the  earth, 
he  borrows  not  only  the  ideas  but  also  the  very 
phraseology  of  these  chapters.  Chapters  liv. 
7-lv.  2  probably  belong  to  the  same  source. 
Finally  we  are  able  to  fix  the  terminus  ad 
quern  of  the  book.  Since  lxxxviii.-lxxxix.  1 
of  1  Enoch,  which  was  written  about  161  B.C., 
presupposes  a  minute  acquaintance  with 
chapter  x.,  which  is  a  fragment  of  the  Book 
of  Noah,  it  follows  that  the  Book  of  Noah 
was  written  at  some  period  anterior  to  this 
date. 

1  Enoch  or  the  Ethiopic  Book  of  Enoch 

The  Book  of  Enoch  is  for  the  history  of 
theological  development  the  most  important 
pseudepigraph  of  the  first  two  centuries 
immediately  preceding  the  Christian  era. 
Some  of  its  authors — and  they  were  many — 
belonged  to  the  true  succession  of  the  prophets, 
and  it  was  simply  owing  to  the  evil  character 
of  the  period  that  these  enthusiasts  and 
mystics  were  obliged  to  issue  their  works  under 
the  aegis  of  some  ancient  names.  The  Law, 
as  we  have  seen  in  an  earlier  chapter,  could 


224      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

tolerate  no  fresh  message  from  God,  and  so 
when  men  were  moved  by  the  Spirit  of  God 
to  deliver  their  spiritual  message  they  could 
not  do  so  openly,  but  were  forced  to  resort 
to  pseudonymous  publication. 

The  Book  of  Enoch  comes  from  many 
workers  and  almost  as  many  periods.  It 
touches  upon  every  subject  that  could  have 
arisen  in  the  ancient  schools  of  the  prophets, 
but  naturally  it  deals  with  these  subjects  in  an 
advanced  stage  of  development.  There  is 
movement  everywhere,  and  dogmatic  fixity 
and  finality  nowhere. 

No  unity  as  to  time,  authorship  or  teach- 
ing is  to  be  looked  for  in  the  book  as  it  stands 
at  present.  It  incorporated  large  sections  of 
the  pre-Maccabean  Book  of  Noah  as  we  have 
seen  in  the  preceding  section. 

As  regards  the  Enoch  elements,  the  oldest 
portions  are  likewise  pre-Maccabean,  i.  e, 
xii.-xxxvi.  and  probably  xciii.  1-10,  xci. 
12-17,  i.e.  the  Apocalypse  of  Weeks.  The 
Dream- Visions,  i.  e.  lxxxiii.-xc.  were  in  all 
probability  written  when  Judas  the  Macca- 
bean  was  still  warring,  165-161  B.C.,  lxxii.- 
lxxxii.  before  110  B.C.,  the  Parables,  xxxvii.- 
lxxi.  and  xci.-civ.,  95-64  B.C.  The  authors 
of  all  these  sections  were  Chasidim  or  their 
successors  the  Pharisees. 

The  Book  of  Enoch,  like  the  Book  of  Daniel, 


THE   O.T.   PSEUDEPIGRAPHA    225 

was  written  originally  partly  in  Aramaic  and 
partly  in  Hebrew,  and  much  of  the  original 
text  was  written  in  verse. 

Into  an  account  of  the  very  composite 
section,  vi.-xxxvi.,  we  cannot  here  enter.  It 
appears  to  have  been  written  before  170  B.C. 
Chapters  lxxii.-lxxxii.  (written  before  110 
B.C.)  are  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  its  author 
to  bring  the  many  utterances  in  the  Old 
Testament  regarding  physical  phenomena  into 
one  system,  which  is  put  forward  as  the 
genuine  and  biblical  one  as  opposed  to  other 
systems.  Its  aim  is  to  give  the  laws  of  the 
heavenly  bodies.  Like  the  Book  of  Jubilees 
it  upholds  the  accuracy  of  the  sun  and  stars 
as  dividers  of  time  over  against  the  moon. 
Chapters  lxxx.-lxxxi.  are  an  addition  to  this 
treatise  and  introduce  quite  a  different  type 
of  thought. 

Chapters  lxxxiii.-xc.  This  section  was 
written  before  the  death  of  Judas  Maccabaeus 
in  161  B.C.  It  forms  in  short  compass  a  phi- 
losophy of  religion  from  the  Jewish  standpoint. 
It  is  divided  into  two  visions,  the  former  of 
which  deals  with  the  first  world  judgment  of  the 
Deluge,  and  the  latter  with  the  entire  history 
of  the  world  till  the  final  judgment.  In  the 
writer's  view  it  was  not  the  sin  of  man,  but 
the  sin  of  the  angels  who  fell  that  brought 
about  the  first  world  judgment.     The  second 


226      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

vision  deals  with  the  successive  world  empires, 
especially  in  their  relation  to  Israel,  till  we 
come  to  the  time  of  the  Syrian  oppression  and 
the  successful  efforts  of  the  Maccabean  party. 
While  Judas  is  still  warring  the  hour  of  the 
final  judgment  is  to  strike  and  all  the  wicked 
are  to  be  judged.  The  New  Jerusalem  is  to 
be  set  up  by  God  Himself,  the  dispersion  to 
be  brought  back,  the  righteous  dead  to  rise, 
the  Messiah  to  appear  in  the  community  of 
the  faithful,  and  the  surviving  Gentiles  to  be 
converted.  This  kingdom  was  to  last  for  ever 
on  the  present  earth. 

See  Charles,  The  Book  of  Enoch  (Second 
Edition),  1912,  and  Apoc.  and  Pseudep.,  ii. 
163-281. 

Sibylline  Oracles  (Jewish) 

The  Sibylline  Oracles,  as  we  now  have 
them,  are  in  some  respects  little  better  than 
a  chaotic  medley.  They  consist  of  twelve 
books — there  were  originally  fifteen — which 
were  written  at  various  times  between  160 
B.C.  and  the  fifth  century  a.d.  They  are  of 
both  Jewish  and  Christian  authorship,  but  the 
latter  largely  preponderate.  Since  much  of 
the  subject  material  is  of  a  neutral  character, 
it  is  at  times  impossible  to  distinguish  between 
the  two.  They  were  of  a  propagandist  char- 
acter, and  addressed  themselves  to  heathen 


THE  O.T.  PSEUDEPIGRAPHA     227 

readers  under  the  cloak  of  some  name  that  was 
influential  in  the  heathen  world.  As  regards 
the  Jewish  Sibyllines  their  aim  was  indirectly 
or  directly  the  propagation  of  Judaism  among 
the  Gentiles.  Whilst  the  work  attributed  to 
Aristeas  belongs  to  the  former  category,  the 
Sibyllines  are  distinctly  of  the  latter.  See 
Lanchester  in  Charles'  Apoc.  and  Pseudcp., 
ii.  368-406. 

The  Letter  of  Aristeas 

This  Epistle  claims  to  have  been  written 
by  Aristeas,  an  officer  at  the  court  of  Ptolemy 
Philadelphus  (285-247  B.C.),  to  his  brother 
Philocrates,  during  the  lifetime  of  Queen 
Arsinoe  278-270  B.C.  Its  subject  ostensibly  is 
an  account  of  the  manner  in  which  the  Jewish 
law  was  translated  into  Greek.  It  is  at  once 
an  apologetic  in  defence  of  and  a  panegyric 
upon  the  Jewish  law  and  Jewish  wisdom  in  the 
mouth  of  a  heathen.  The  bulk  of  the  work  was 
probably  written  170-130  B.C.  and  subsequently 
edited  and  enlarged,  as  Andrews  (Charles'  Apoc. 
and  Pseudep.,  ii.  83-122)  conjectures,  about 
the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era 

Testaments  of  the  XII.  Patriarchs 

The  Testaments  of  the  XII.  Patriarchs  were 
written  in  Hebrew  in  the  latter  years  of  John 
Hyrcanus — in  all  probability  after  his  final 


228      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

victory  over  the  Syrian  power  and  before  his 
breach  with  the  Pharisees — in  other  words, 
between  109  and  106  B.C.  Their  author  was 
a  Pharisee  who  combined  loyalty  to  the 
best  traditions  of  his  party  with  the  most 
unbounded  admiration  of  Hyrcanus.  The 
Maccabean  dynasty  had  now  reached  the 
zenith  of  its  prosperity,  and  in  its  reigning 
representative,  who  alone  in  Judaism  pos- 
sessed the  triple  offices  of  prophet,  priest  and 
king,  the  Pharisaic  party  had  come  to  recognise 
the  actual  Messiah.  To  this  prince  the  writer 
addresses  two  or  more  Messianic  hymns,  and 
already  sees  in  him  the  Messianic  kingdom 
established.  But  herein  we  have  a  notable 
instance  of  the  vanity  of  man's  judgment 
and  prescience.  This  book  had  hardly  been 
written  when  Hyrcanus,  owing  to  an  outrage 
done  to  him  by  the  Pharisees,  broke  with  their 
party  and  joining  the  Sadducces,  died  a  year 
or  two  later.  His  successors  proved  them- 
selves the  basest  of  men.  Their  infamy  is 
painted  in  lurid  colours  by  contemporary 
writers,  and  by  a  strange  irony  fragments 
of  the  work  of  one  of  these  assailants  of  the 
later  Maccabees  have  been  interpolated  in 
the  chief  manifesto  that  was  issued  on  behalf 
of  one  of  the  earlier  members  of  this  dynasty. 
This  later  writer  returns  to  the  hope  of  a 
Messiah  from  Judah. 


THE   O.T.   PSEUDEPIGRAPHA     229 

The  value  of  the  work  in  regard  to  the 
Messianic  expectation  is  hard  to  exaggerate, 
but  its  main  worth  lies  in  another  direction, 
i.  e.  in  its  ethical  teaching,  which  has  attained 
a  real  immortality  by  influencing  the  thought 
and  diction  of  the  writers  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  even  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 
This  ethical  teaching  forms  alike  the  warp 
and  woof  of  the  book. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  dogmatic  Christian 
interpretations  are  patches  differing  alike  in 
colour  and  texture  from  the  original  material, 
stitched  on  at  times  where  originally  there 
was  no  rent  at  all,  and  at  others  rudely  thrust 
in  where  a  rent  had  been  deliberately  made 
for  their  insertion. 

See  Charles,  Testament  of  the  Patriarchs, 
1908;  Apoc.  and  Pseudep.,  ii.  282-367. 

The  Book  of  Jubilees 
The  Book  of  Jubilees  is,  in  certain  limited 
respects,  one  of  the  most  important  of  the 
Pseudepigrapha.  Without  it  we  could,  of 
course,  have  inferred  from  Ezra  and  Nehe- 
miah,  the  Priests'  Code,  and  the  later  chapters 
of  Zechariah,  the  supreme  position  the  Law 
had  achieved  in  Judaism,  but  without  Jubilees 
we  could  hardly  have  imagined  such  an 
absolute  supremacy  of  the  Law  as  finds 
expression  in  this  book. 


230      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

And  yet  this  triumphant  manifesto  of 
legalism  contained  within  its  pages  the 
element  that  was  destined  to  dispute  its 
supremacy,  and  finally  to  reduce  the  Law  to 
the  wholly  secondary  position  that  alone  it 
could  rightly  claim.  This  element  is,  of 
course,  apocalyptic,  which  was  the  source  of 
the  higher  theology  in  Judaism,  and  in  due 
course  the  parent  of  Christianity,  wherein 
apocalyptic  ceased  to  be  pseudonymous  and 
became  one  with  prophecy. 

The  Book  of  Jubilees  was  written  in  Hebrew 
by  a  Pharisee,  between  the  year  of  the 
accession  of  John  Hyrcanus  to  the  high-priest- 
hood in  135  B.C.,  and  his  breach  with  the 
Pharisees  some  years  before  his  death  in  105 
B.C.  As  the  chronicler  had  rewritten  the 
history  of  Israel  and  Judah  from  the  basis  of 
the  Priests'  Code,  so  our  author  re-edited  from 
the  Pharisaic  standpoint  of  his  time  the 
history  of  events  from  the  Creation  to  the 
publication,  or,  according  to  the  writer's  view, 
the  republication  of  the  Law  on  Sinai.  His 
object  was  to  defend  Judaism  against  the 
Hellenistic  spirit  which  had  been  in  the 
ascendant  early  in  this  century,  and  to  prove 
that  the  Law  was  of  everlasting  validity. 
Though  revealed  in  time,  it  was  superior  to 
time.  It  had  been  kept  in  heaven  from  the 
beginning  by  the  angels,  and  to  its  observance 


THE   O.T.  PSEUDEPIGRAPHA    231 

there  was  no  limit  henceforward  in  time  or 
eternity. 

See  Charles,  The  Book  of  Jubilees,  1902; 
Apoc.  and  Pseudcp.,  ii.  1-82. 

100-1  B.C. 
1  Enoch  i.-v.,  xxxvii.-lxxi. 

1  Enoch  i.-v.  These  chapters  appear  to 
have  been  written  as  an  introduction  to  the 
entire  book  by  the  final  editor.  As  to  their 
date,  they  probably  belong  to  the  early  part 
of  the  first  century  B.C. 

Chapters  xxxvii.-lxxi.  (94-64  B.C.).  These 
chapters  (=  "  The  Parables  "),  which  form  the 
well-known  section  dealing  with  the  Son  of  Man, 
are  in  a  fragmentary  condition.  They  contain 
many  extensive  interpolations  from  the  Book 
of  Noah,  as  we  have  already  seen.  Even  when 
these  have  been  removed,  we  soon  recognise 
that  the  parables  are  based  on  two  independent 
sources,  of  which  the  theme  of  one  was  the  Son 
of  Man,  and  that  of  the  other  the  Elect  One. 

The  author  of  this  remarkable  section  has 
no  interest  save  in  the  moral  and  spiritual 
worlds.  The  doctrine  of  the  Messiah  is  unique 
in  Jewish  literature.  The  scene  of  the  Messi- 
anic kingdom  is  to  be  a  new  heaven  and  a  new 
earth  :  its  duration  is  to  be  eternal,  and  the 
life  of  its  members  eternal. 

See  Charles'  2nd  edition,  pp.  2-3,  64-68. 


232      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

Psalms  of  Solomon 

The  Psalms  of  Solomon  were  written  by 
various  authors  between  the  years  70  and 
40  B.C.  The  last  two  present  a  different 
eschatology  from  that  which  appears  in  the 
first  sixteen,  and  mark  the  return  of  the 
faithful  in  Judaism  to  the  hope  of  a  Messiah 
descended  from  Judah.  The  nearly  contem- 
poraneous appearance  of  this  sketch  of  the 
Messiah  from  Judah  in  this  book,  and  of  that 
of  the  supernatural  Son  of  Man  in  the  Parables, 
shows  in  some  degree  the  intensity  with  which 
the  expectation  of  a  personal  Messiah  would 
naturally  be  cherished  in  the  opening  years  of 
the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era,  and  like- 
wise the  guise  in  which  the  people  expected 
Him  to  appear. 

v  The  first  sixteen  Psalms  contain  no  reference 
to  the  Messiah,  but  dwell  on  the  Messianic 
kingdom.  To  this  kingdom  the  righteous 
do  not  rise,  but  to  an  eternal  life  in  the  spirit* 

See  Ryle  and  James'  excellent  commentary, 
The  Psalms  of  the  Pharisees,  1891 ;  Gray  in 
Charles'  Apoc.  and  Pseudep.,  ii.  625-652. 

The  Testaments  of  the  XII.  Patriarchs 
(First  Century  B.C.  Additions) 

We  have  seen  above  that  the  Testaments  of 
the  XII.  Patriarchs  were  written  towards  the 


THE   O.T.   PSEUDEPIGRAPHA    233 

close  of  the  second  century  B.C.,  and  we  have 
there  drawn  attention  to  the  fact  that  at  a 
later  date  additions  were  made  to  the  text, 
the  theme  of  which  was  at  variance  with  the 
theme  of  the  work  itself.  These  additions, 
which  were  written  about  70-40  B.C.,  had  a 
very  definite  object,  and  this  object  was  the 
overthrow  of  the  Maccabean  high-priesthood, 
which,  in  the  first  century  B.C.  had  become 
guilty  of  all  lewdness  and  baseness.  These 
additions  are : — 

Test.  Levi  x.,  xiv.-xvi. 

Test.  Judah  xvii.  2-xviii.  1,  xxi.  6-xxiii., 

xxiv.  4-6. 
Test.  Zebulun  ix. 
Test.  Dan.  v.  6-7,  vii.  3. 
Test.  Naphtali  iv. 
Test.  Gad  viii.  2. 
Test.  Asher  vii.  4-7. 

These  additions  single  out  three  of  the 
Maccabean  priest-kings  for  attack,  the  first  of 
whom  they  charge  with  every  abomination. 
They  declare  that  the  people  are  apostate,  and 
that  retribution  will  speedily  follow  in  the 
laying  waste  of  the  Temple  and  the  carrying 
into  captivity  of  the  nation.  Thence  they 
will,  on  repentance,  be  restored  to  their  own 
land  and  enjoy  the  blessedness  of  God's 
presence  under  a  Messiah  sprung  from  Judah. 


234      RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

Fragments  of  a  Zadokite  Work 

(18-8  B.C.  ?) 

This  work  represents  the  beliefs  and  expec- 
tations of  a  body  of  reformers  who  sprang  up 
in  the  second  century  B.C.  within  the  priest- 
hood, and  called  themselves,  at  all  events  in 
the  first  century,  "  the  Sons  of  Zadok."  The 
reformation,  in  which  they  were  the  chief 
movers,  was  the  result  of  a  slow  but  steady 
religious  *  revival,  which  took  place  between 
the  years  196  and  176  B.C.  or  thereabouts  (i.  6), 
and  which  culminated  at  the  close  of  this 
period  in  the  formation  of  a  party  within  the 
priesthood.  This  party — "  the  penitents  of 
Israel  " — appears  to  have  attempted  the 
reform  of  irregularities  connected  with  the 
Temple,  but  having  failed  in  the  attempt  they 
left  Jerusalem  and  the  cities  of  Israel,  either 
voluntarily  or  under  compulsion,  and  with- 
drew to  Damascus  under  the  leadership  of 
"  the  Star,"  otherwise  designated  as  "  the 
Lawgiver,"  where  they  established  the  "  New 
Covenant  " — "  the  Covenant  of  Repentance." 
Thus  the  first  breach  of  the  party  was  with 
their  brethren  the  Sadducean  priesthood. 
After  the  institution  of  the  New  Covenant,  the 
party  appears  to  have  returned  from  Damas- 
cus and  made  the  cities  of  Israel  the  sphere  of 
their  missionary  efforts.     For  an  unspecified 


THE   O.T.  PSEUDEPIGRAPHA    235 

period  of  years  till  the  coming  of  the  Teacher 
of  Righteousness,  they  were  to  obey  faithfully 
the  interpretation  of  the  Law  laid  down  by 
the  Lawgiver  above  referred  to.  It  was 
probably  during  this  period  that  they  first 
came  into  open  antagonism  with  the  Pharisees 
— an  antagonism  which  grew  in  bitterness 
with  the  growing  years.  The  most  virulent 
attacks  in  our  book  are  directed  against  the 
Pharisees.  The  ground  for  these  attacks 
can  be  best  understood  from  the  knowledge 
of  the  origin  of  the  party.  The  movement 
that  gave  them  birth  was  of  an  intensely 
ethical  and  religious  character,  and  naturally 
tended  to  lead  them  to  recognise  the  prophets 
as  of  great  worth,  even  if  not  of  equal  worth 
with  the  Law,  and  therein  to  differentiate 
themselves  from  both  Pharisee  and  Sadducee. 
This  was  one  cause  of  the  breach  with  the 
Pharisees.  Another  arose  from  the  fact  that 
whereas  the  Pharisees  were  upholding  and 
developing  a  vast  body  of  oral  tradition,  the 
reformed  Sadducees  absolutely  opposed  its 
acceptance  except  in  a  few  particulars.  They 
clung  fast  to  the  written  Law  and  would  have 
none  of  the  oral.  Furthermore,  since  they 
claimed  to  represent  the  true  Israel,  especially 
on  the  priestly  side,  to  them  belonged  the 
covenants  and  the  priestly  functions,  and  the 
rights  of  teaching  and  judging  Israel — which 


236      RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

latter  functions  had  been  usurped  by  the 
Pharisees ;  to  them  also  belonged  the  Temple 
at  Jerusalem  as  their  Sanctuary,  to  them  be- 
longed Jerusalem  and  "  the  holy  city." 

The  precepts  of  the  Law  as  expounded  by 
the  Lawgiver  were  to  be  obeyed  till  the 
coming  of  the  Teacher  of  Righteousness.  This 
Teacher  was  to  come  "  in  the  end  of  the  days." 
It  was  probably  during  this  time  that  the  party 
assumed  the  name  "  the  Sons  of  Zadok." 

After  the  death  of  the  "  Teacher  of  Right- 
eousness," whose  teaching  and  activities  are 
not  recounted — a  fact  which  points  to  the 
defectiveness  of  our  MSS. — a  considerable 
period  elapses,  much  more  than  forty  years. 
We  have  now  arrived  at  the  date  of  our  author. 
He  is  living  "  in  the  end  of  the  days,"  and  the 
advent  of  the  Messiah  "  from  Aaron  and 
Israel  "  is  momentarily  looked  for.  If  I  am 
right  in  my  interpretation  of  this  phrase,  the 
Messiah  was  to  be  a  son  of  Mariamne  and  Herod 
(i.  e.  from  Aaron  and  Israel),  and  the  book 
was  therefore  written  between  18  and  8  B.C. 
Herod  put  his  two  sons  to  death  in  8  B.C., 
since  they  were  the  popular  idols  of  the 
nation,  and  so  this  hope,  like  so  many  that 
preceded  it,  failed  to  reach  fulfilment. 

I  have  given  this  rather  full  account  of  this 
book  as  it  has  only  been  brought  to  light 
within  the  last  three  years.     . 


THE   O.T.  PSEUDEPIGRAPHA    237 

See  Charles,  Fragments  of  a  Zadokite  Work, 
1912. 

a.d.  1-100 

The  Assumption  of  Moses 

The  Assumption  of  Moses  was  in  all  proba- 
bility a  composite  work,  and  consisted  of  two 
originally  distinct  books,  of  which  the  first  was 
the  Testament  of  Moses,  and  the  second  the 
Assumption.  The  former  was  written  in 
Hebrew,  between  a.d.  7  and  29,  and  possibly 
also  the  latter.  A  Greek  version  of  the  entire 
work  appeared  in  the  first  century  a.d.  Of 
this  a  few  phrases  and  sentences  appear  to 
have  been  preserved  in  Acts  vii.  36,  Jude  9, 
16,  18,  2  Baruch,  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
Origen,  and  other  Greek  writers. 

The  book  was  written  by  a  Pharisaic 
Quietist  and  was  designed  by  its  author  as  a 
protest  against  the  growing  secularisation  of 
the  Pharisaic  party  through  its  fusion  with 
political  ideals  and  popular  Messianic  beliefs. 
Its  author  sought  herein  to  recall  his  party  to 
the  old  paths,  which  they  were  fast  forsaking, 
of  simple  unobtrusive  obedience  to  the  Law. 
He  glorifies  accordingly  the  old  ideals  which 
had  been  cherished  and  pursued  by  the  Chasid 
and  Early  Pharisaic  party,  but  which  the 
Pharisaism  of  the  first  century  B.C.  had  begun 
to  disown  in  favour  of  a  more  active  r61e  in  the 


238      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

life  of  the  nation.  And  yet  he  was  full  of 
patriotism ;  for  he  looked  for  the  return  of  the 
Ten  Tribes,  the  establishment  of  the  theo- 
cratic kingdom,  the  triumph  of  Israel  over  its 
foes.  But  though  a  patriot  he  was  not  a 
Zealot.  The  duty  of  the  faithful  was  not  to 
resort  to  arms,  but  simply  to  keep  the  law,  and 
prepare,  through  repentance,  for  the  personal 
intervention  of  God  in  their  behalf.  Accord- 
ingly, though  he  depicts  in  all  its  horrors  the 
persecution  under  Antiochus,  he  leaves  un- 
mentioned  the  great  achievements  of  the 
Maccabean  leaders  and  only  once  refers  to  the 
entire  dynasty  from  165  to  37  B.C.,  and  that  in 
most  disparaging  terms.  For  him  the  true 
saints  and  heroes  of  the  time  were  not  Judas 
and  his  great  brethren,  but  an  obscure  group 
of  martyrs — Eleazar  and  his  seven  sons,  who 
unresistingly  yielded  themselves  to  death  on 
behalf  of  God  and  the  Law.  In  setting  forth 
his  ideal  saints  and  heroes  our  author  idealised 
deliberately  the  facts  of  history  and  repre- 
sented as  a  single  incident  two  distinct  events 
— a  pardonable  liberty  on  the  part  of  an 
apocalyptist — not  to  speak  of  an  unconquer- 
able optimist  and  idealist.  His  action  in 
regard  to  the  Maccabean  movement  was  the 
natural  outcome  of  his  conception  of  religion, 
and  reflected  his  attitude  towards  the  present 
dominant  form  of  Pharisaism;   for  he  clearly 


THE  O.T.   PSEUDEPIGRAPHA    239 

saw  the  growing  secularisation  of  the  religion 
of  his  time,  and  perhaps  foresaw  the  doom 
to  which  his  country  was  hurrying,  and  la- 
boured with  all  his  power  to  stay  its  downward 
progress.  But  all  in  vain.  He  but  played 
afresh  the  part  of  Cassandra.  The  leavening 
of  Pharisaism  with  earthly  political  ideals 
went  on  apace,  and  the  movement  thus 
initiated  culminated  finally  in  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem  by  the  Romans  in  a.d.  70. 

It  adds  no  little  to  the  interest  of  the  book 
that  it  was  written  during  the  early  life  of  our 
Lord,  or  possibly  contemporaneously  with  His 
public  ministry,  and  that  its  conception  of 
spiritual  religion,  as  opposed  to  an  alliance  of 
religion  with  politics  generally  or  with  any 
specific  school  of  politics,  was  in  many  respects 
one  with  His. 

See  Charles,  The  Assumption  of  Moses,  1897 ; 
Apoc.  and  Pseudep.,  ii.  407-424. 

2  Enoch,  or  the  Book  of  the  Secrets  of 
Enoch 

The  Book  of  the  Secrets  of  Enoch  has,  so 
far  as  is  yet  known,  been  preserved  only  in 
Slavonic. 

2  Enoch  in  its  present  form  was  written 
somewhere  about  the  beginning  of  the  Chris- 
tian era.  Its  final  editor  was  an  Hellenistic  Jew, 
and  the  place  of  its  composition  was  Egypt. 


240      RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

Written  at  such  a  date,  and  in  Egypt,  it 
was  not  to  be  expected  that  it  should  exercise 
a  direct  influence  on  the  writers  of  the  New 
Testament.  On  the  other  hand,  it  occasion- 
ally exhibits  striking  parallelisms  in  diction  and 
thought,  and  some  of  the  dark  passages  of  the 
latter  are  all  but  inexplicable  without  its  aid. 

Although  the  very  knowledge  that  such  a 
book  ever  existed  was  lost  for  probably  twelve 
hundred  years,  it  nevertheless  was  much  used 
both  by  Christian  and  heretic  in  the  early 
centuries.  Thus  citations  appear  from  it, 
though  without  acknowledgment,  in  the  Books 
of  Adam  and  Eve,  and  Apocalypses  of  Moses 
and  Paul  (a.d.  400-500),  the  Sibylline  Oracles, 
the  Ascension  of  Isaiah  and  the  Epistle  of 
Barnabas  (a.d.  70-90).  It  is  quoted  by  name 
in  the  later  portions  of  the  Testaments  of 
Levi,  Dan,  and  Naphtali.  It  was  referred  to 
by  Origen  and  probably  by  Clement  of 
Alexandria,  and  used  by  Irenaeus,  and  a 
few  phrases  in  the  New  Testament  may  be 
derived  from  it. 

But  it  was  not  only  on  Christian  literature 
that  the  influence  of  2  Enoch  is  manifest.  A 
Hebrew  book  entitled  "  the  Book  of  Enoch  " 
(-pXT  nCD)  and  twice  "  the  Book  of  the  Secrets 
of  Enoch "  (Tom  rn  TOO)  in  the  Zohar 
exhibits  very  close  affinities  with  2  Enoch. 
R.  Ishmael,  a  martyr  of  the  Hadrianic  per- 


THE   O.T.  PSEUDEPIGRAPHA    241 

secution,  is  claimed  to  be  its  author,  but  its 
composition  belongs  most  probably  to  a  later 
date.  It  is,  however,  possible,  that  this 
Hebrew  Book  of  Enoch  has  preserved  in  some 
cases  the  Hebrew  original,  from  which  appar- 
ently portions  of  2  Enoch  are  derived.  But 
the  influence  of  2  Enoch  is  not  confined  to 
this  Hebrew  Book  of  Enoch.  Traces  of  it 
are  found  also  in  the  apocalyptic  fragment 
published  by  Jellinek,  Beth  ha-Midrasch,  vi. 
19-30,  and  also  in  the  Zohar. 

The  passages  presupposed  by  the  Testa- 
ments of  the  XII.  Patriarchs  must  be  of  a  pre- 
Christian  date.  These  passages  may  belong 
to  an  older  form  of  the  Enoch  tradition  than 
2  Enoch.  2  Enoch  in  its  present  form  was 
written  probably  between  30  B.C.  and  a.d.  70. 
It  was  written  after  30  B.C.,  for  it  makes  use 
of  Sirach,  1  Enoch,  and  the  Book  of  Wisdom 
(see  my  edition  of  2  Enoch,  pp.  xxv.  seq.),  and 
before  a.d.  70 ;  for  the  Temple  is  still  standing. 
We  may,  therefore,  reasonably  assign  its 
composition  to  the  period  a.d.  1-50. 

The  author  belonged  to  the  orthodox  Hel- 
lenistic Judaism  of  his  day.  Thus  he  believed 
in  the  value  of  sacrifices,  xlii.  6 ;  lix.  2 ;  lxvi.  2 ; 
but  he  is  careful  to  enforce  enlightened  views 
regarding  them,  xlv.  3 ;  lxi.  4,  5 ;  in  the  Law, 
lii.  9-10 ;  and  likewise  in  a  blessed  immortality, 
1.  2 ;  lxv.  10 ;  in  which  the  righteous  shall  wear 

Q 


242      RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

"  the  raiment  of  God's  glory,"  xxii.  8.  In 
questions  affecting  the  origin  of  the  earth,  sin, 
death,  etc.,  he  allows  himself  the  most  un- 
restricted freedom  and  borrows  freely  from 
every  quarter.  Thus,  Platonic  (xxx.  16,  note  in 
my  edition),  Egyptian  (xxv.  2,  note),  and  Zend 
(Iviii.  4-6,  notes)  elements  are  adopted  into  his 
system.     The  result  is  naturally  syncretistic. 

This  book  is  of  great  value  in  showing  the 
continued  existence  of  the  school  of  high 
ethical  teaching  of  which  we  have  the  noblest 
monument  in  the  Testaments  of  the  XII. 
Patriarchs.  Its  description  of  the  Seven 
Heavens  also  serves  to  throw  light  on  several 
dark  passages  in  the  New  Testament. 

See  Charles,  The  Book  of  the  Secrets  of  Enoch. 

2  Baruch,  or  the  Syriac  Apocalypse  of 
Baruch 

The  Apocalypse  of  Baruch,  which  for  the 
sake  of  convenience  will  be  designated  2 
Baruch,  is  a  composite  work  written  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  first  century  of  the  Christian 
era.  Its  authors  were  orthodox  Jews  and  it  is 
a  good  representative  of  the  Judaism  against 
which  the  Pauline  dialectic  was  directed. 

In  this  Apocalypse  we  have  almost  the  last 
noble  utterance  of  Judaism  before  it  plunged 
into  the  dark  and  oppressive  years  that 
followed  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.     For 


THE   O.T.  PSEUDEPIGRAPHA     243 

ages  after  that  epoch  its  people  seem  to  have 
been  bereft  of  their  immemorial  gifts  of  song 
and  eloquence,  and  to  have  had  thought  and 
energy  only  for  the  study  and  expansion  of 
the  traditions  of  the  Fathers.  But  when  our 
book  was  written,  that  evil  and  barren  era 
had  not  yet  set  in;  breathing  thought  and 
burning  word  had  still  their  home  in  Palestine, 
and  the  hand  of  the  Jewish  artist  was  still 
master  of  its  ancient  cunning. 

This  beautiful  Apocalypse,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  nine  chapters  towards  its  close,  which 
under  the  title  "  the  Epistle  of  Baruch  "  or 
a  similar  one,  were  incorporated  in  the  later 
Syriac  Bible,  was  lost  sight  of  for  quite  1,200 
years. 

Written  originally  in  Hebrew,  it  was  trans- 
lated into  Greek,  and  from  Greek  into  Syriac. 
Of  the  Hebrew  original  every  line  has  perished 
save  a  few  still  surviving  in  rabbinic  writings. 
Of  the  Greek  version,  a  small  fragment  has 
been  recovered  from  the  papyri,  while  many 
phrases  and  sentences  have  been  preserved 
in  the  Greek  Apocalypse  of  Baruch  (i.  e. 
3  Baruch)  and  in  the  Rest  of  the  Words  of 
Baruch  (i.  e.  4  Baruch).  Happily  the  Syriac 
has  come  down  to  us  in  its  entirety  in  a 
sixth-century  MS. 

This  Apocalypse  is,  as  has  already  been 
stated,  composite.     The  editor  has  made  use 


244      RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

of  a  number  of  independent  writings,  belong- 
ing to  various  dates  between  a.d.  50  and  90, 
and  emanating  indirectly  at  all  events  from 
the  School  of  Hillel,  just  as  4  Ezra  is  derived 
from  the  School  of  Shammai.1     They  are  thus 

1  Rosenthal  (Vier  apokryphische  Biicher  aus  der  Zeit 
und  Schule  R.  Akibas,  Berlin,  1885)  sought  to  prove  that 
the  Assumption  of  Moses,  4  Ezra,  2  Baruch  and  the  Book 
of  Tobit  were  written  by  members  of  the  school  of  R. 
Aqiba.  As  regards  the  first  and  last  of  this  list,  no 
scholar  would  now  agree  with  Rosenthal.  But  for  the 
learned  commentary  of  Mr.  Box  on  4  Ezra,  it  would  not 
be  necessary  to  reconsider  Rosenthal's  views  on  2  Baruch. 
Mr.  Box  {The  Ezra- Apocalypse,  p.  lxv.  seq.),  however, 
writes :  "  We  may  therefore  conclude  that  our  book 
(4  Ezra)  emanates  from  a  school  of  apocalyptic  writers 
who  reflect  the  influence  of  the  School  of  Shammai; 
just  as  the  companion  Apocalypse  of  Baruch  (t.  e.  2  Baruch) 
represents  an  apocalyptic  school  under  the  influence  of 
Aqiba.  This  important  distinction  has  been  well  brought 
out  by  Rosenthal." 

With  this  statement  I  must  join  issue.  On  pp.  95-100, 
Rosenthal  gives  five  grounds  from  which  he  concludes  the 
influence  of  R.  Aqiba  on  2  Baruch.  The  fifth  is  so 
beside  the  mark  and  irrelevant — being  commonplaces 
about  the  last  plagues — that  I  will  take  no  account  of 
it  here.  The  rest,  indeed,  are  not  much  better,  but  need 
to  be  considered,  owing  to  Mr.  Box's  acceptance  of 
Rosenthal's  conclusion.     These  are  as  follows  : 

(1)  2  Baruch  (xi.  1  seq.)  and  Aqiba  (Si/re  on  Deut.  §  43) 
alike  complain  of  the  prosperity  of  Rome  and  the  desolation 
of  Zion,  and  both  alike  comfort  their  readers  with  the 
promised  restoration  of  Zion.  This  would  naturally  be 
a  commonplace  with  most  Jewish  writers  after  a.d.  70, 
just  as  corresponding  complaints  and  hopes  appear  in 
the  post-Exilic  prophets  respectively  with  regard  to  the 
successive  oppressors  of  Judah  and  the  coming  restoration 
of   Jerusalem.     But    the   same    actual    combination    of 


THE   O.T.   PSEUDEPIGRAPHA     245 

contemporaneous  with  the  chief  New  Testa- 
ment  writings,    and   furnish   records   of   the 

complaint  and  comfort  with  regard  to  Rome  and  Jeru- 
salem respectively,  is  found  in  the  Psalms  of  Solomon 
ii.  1  seqq.,  30-41,  and  the  Assumption  of  Moses  vi.  8-9, 
x.  8-10.  Hence  no  dependence  of  2  Baruch  on  Aqiba 
can  be  deduced  from  this  fact. 

(2)  Both  believed  strongly  in  the  freedom  of  the  will. 
But  this  does  not  prove  anything.  According  to  Josephus 
(Ant.  xiii.  5.  9),  the  Sadducees  believed  in  the  complete 
freedom  of  the  will,  while  the  Pharisees  believed  alike 
in  the  freedom  of  the  will  and  in  Providence.  Now, 
according  to  this  view  the  teaching  of  our  book  is  that  of 
ordinary  Pharisaism.  Thus  in  A3,  i.  e.  liii -lxxiv.,  we 
find  the  vigorous  assertion  of  freewill :  "  each  of  us  has 
been  the  Adam  of  his  own  soul "  (liv.  19).  And  yet 
throughout  this  section  the  supremacy  of  Providence  is 
acknowledged:  cf.  lxix.  2,  lxx.  2.  Exactly  the  same 
teaching  is  found  in  the  Psalms  of  Solomon.  Thus  in 
ix.  7  we  have : 

"  Our  works  are  subject  to  our  own  choice  and  power 
To  do  right  or  wrong  in  the  works  of  our  hands, 
And   in  Thy  righteousness  Thou  visitest  the  sons  of 
men." 

See  also  v.  4-6.  Philo  also  (Quod  Deus  sit  immutabilis  10) 
speaks  in  the  strongest  terms  of  man's  God-given  freedom. 

(3)  The  next  ground  adduced  by  Rosenthal  is  that 
2  Baruch  and  R.  Aqiba  alike  bring  forward  the  chasten- 
ing effects  of  adversity.  But  this  teaching  is  found  in 
Deut.  viii.  5;  Ps.  xxxii.  1,  5,  lxxiii.  14,  15,  lxxxix.  30,  34, 
cxix.  71,  75;  Prov.  iii.  12,  xiii.  24;  frequently  in  the 
Prophets  and  the  Pseudepigrapha.  For  the  latter, 
cf.  Pss.  Sol.  ii.  16,  vii.  3,  viii.  7,  27,  etc. 

(4)  The  fourth  ground  is  that  2  Baruch  and  R.  Aqiba 
held  that  none  who  denied  the  resurrection  would  share 
in  it.  According  to  Sank.  90a,  R.  Aqiba  made  this 
statement,  but  nowhere  in  2  Baruch  is  such  an  affirmation 
made,  though  no  doubt  its  various  writers  believed  in  the 


246      RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

Jewish  doctrines  and  beliefs  of  that  period, 
and    of   the   arguments    which    prevailed    in 

resurrection.  Yet  Rosenthal  thinks  he  finds  it  there,  and 
cites  two  passages,  i.  e.  xxx.  1,  which  in  the  present  form  of 
the  text  speaks,  however,  not  of  belief  in  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead,  but  in  the  hope  of  the  Messiah.  The  second 
passage  betrays  an  extraordinary  misunderstanding  of 
Ceriani's  Latin  rendering  of  2  Baruch  lxv.  1,  i.  e.  "  Manassea 
.  .  .  cogitabat  tempore  suo  quasi  ac  futurum  non  esset, 
ut  Fortis  inquireret  ista."  This,  of  course,  means : 
"  Manasses  .  .  .  thought  that  in  his  time  the  Mighty 
One  would  not  inquire  into  these  things."  But  Rosenthal 
took  it  as  meaning :  "  Manasses  thought  in  his  time  that 
there  would  be  no  future  life." 

Thus  the  doctrines,  which  2  Baruch  and  Aqiba  hold  in 
common,  are  commonplaces  even  of  pre-Christian 
Pharisaism,  and  furnish  no  evidence  for  Rosenthal's 
hypothesis,  while  all  the  internal  evidence  of  2  Baruch 
postulates  various  dates  for  its  several  constituents,  from 
a.d.  50  to  90.  Moreover,  whereas  Aqiba  declared  that 
the  Ten  Tribes  would  never  return,  2  Baruch  emphasises 
this  hope  repeatedly :  cf.  lxxviii.  5,  6,  7,  lxxxiv.  2,  8,  10, 
i.  4. 

From  the  above  it  is  clear  that  there  are  no  grounds 
for  Rosenthal's  contention.  2  Baruch,  if  it  belongs  to 
any  school,  belongs  to  that  of  Hillel,  who  was  the  great 
rival  of  Shammai.  Its  main  theses  are  certainly  in  accord 
with  much  that  is  known  of  Hillel.  Even  its  latest 
sections  are  too  early  to  be  products  of  R.  Aqiba's 
School,  as  is  clear  from  the  following  dates.  At  the 
earliest,  Aqiba  was  born  about  a.d.  40-50.  As  he  did 
not  attend  the  Rabbinic  schools  till  he  was  forty,  and  did 
not  become  himself  a  teacher  till  he  had  studied  for 
thirteen  years,  it  follows  that  his  school  was  founded  about 
the  beginning  of  the  second  century  a.d.  Now  according 
to  2  Baruch  lxviii.  5-6,  the  Temple  was  standing  when 
A3  was  written  (and  also  A1,  A2),  and  as  regards  the  other 
elements  of  2  Baruch,  the  evidence  is  against  any  later 
date  than  a.d.  90-100. 


THE   O.  T.  PSEUDEPIGRAPHA     247 

Judaism  in  the  latter  half  of  the  first  century, 
and  with  which  its  leaders  sought  to  uphold 
its  declining  faith  and  confront  the  attacks 
of  a  growing  and  aggressive  Christianity. 
Written  by  Pharisaic  Jews  as  an  apology  for 
Judaism,  and  in  part  an  implicit  polemic 
against  Christianity,  it  gained  nevertheless 
a  larger  circulation  amongst  Christians  than 
amongst  Jews,  and  owned  its  very  preserva- 
tion to  the  scholarly  cares  of  the  Church  it 
assailed.  But  in  the  struggle  for  life  its  secret 
animus  against  Christianity  begat  an  instinc- 
tive opposition  in  Christian  circles,  and  so 
proved  a  bar  to  its  popularity.  Thus  the 
place  it  would  naturally  have  filled  was  taken 
by  the  sister  work  4  Ezra.  This  latter  work, 
which  forms  in  fact  an  unconscious  confession 
of  the  failure  of  Judaism  to  redeem  the  world, 
was  naturally  more  acceptable  to  Christian 
readers,  and  thus,  in  due  course,  our  Apocalypse 
was  elbowed  out  of  recognition  by  its  fitter 
and  sturdier  rival. 

As  I  have  remarked  at  the  outset  the  book 
in  very  composite.  There  are  three  Messianic 
Apocalypses  xxvii.-xxx.  1 ;  xxxvi.-xl. ;  liii.- 
lxxiv.,  which  for  convenience'  sake  I  designate 
A1,  A2,  A3,  and  a  short  original  Apocalypse 
of  Baruch  B1.  In  the  remaining  sections  B2, 
B3,  the  contents  of  which  we  shall  determine 


248      RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

presently,  the  doctrine  of  a  Messianic  kingdom 
is  absolutely  relinquished. 

Different  documents  behind  the  Text.  Thus 
A\  A2,  A3,  B1  agree  in  presenting  an  optimistic 
view  of  IsraeVs  future  and  inculcating  the 
hope  of  a  Messianic  kingdom :  whereas  in  B2, 
B3  the  hopes  of  the  righteous  are  directed  to  the 
immediate  advent  of  the  final  judgment  and  the 
spiritual  world. 

But  at  this  point  a  difference  between  A1, 
A2,  A3  and  B1  emerges.  The  former  look  for 
a  Messiah  at  the  head  of  the  kingdom,  but 
B1  for  a  kingdom  without  the  Messiah. 

The  relations  of  B\  B2,  B3  to  each  other. 
Since  B3  consists  of  a  single  chapter  we  shall 
deal  with  it  first. 

B3  =  Ixxxv.  This  chapter  agrees  with  B1, 
B2  in  being  written  after  a.d.  70;  but  differs 
from  B1  and  agrees  with  B2  in  despairing  of 
a  national  restoration,  and  in  looking  only 
for  spiritual  blessedness  in  the  world  of  incor- 
ruption.  But  again  it  differs  from  B2  also, 
in  that  B2  was  written  in  Jerusalem  or  Judaea. 

B1,  B2 — their  extent  and  characteristics.  Even 
the  elimination  of  the  preceding  sections  does 
not  leave  a  coherent  whole  as  we  have  already 
seen.  Thus  i.-ix.  1,  xxxii.  2-4,  xliii.-xliv.  7, 
xlv.-xlvi.,  Ixxvii.-lxxxii.,  lxxxiv.,  Ixxxv.  seq. 
( =  B1)  are  optimistic  and  hopeful  as  to  this 
world,  whereas  x.-xxv.,  xxx.  2-xxxii.  1,  xxxii 


THE  O.T.  PSEUDEPIGRAPHA     249 

5-xxxv.,  xli.  seq.,  xliv.  8-15,  xlvii.-lii.,  lxxv. 
seq.,  lxxxiii.  ( =  B2)  are  decidedly  of  an  opposite 
character.  In  B1  the  dispersion  is  to  return, 
lxxvii.  6,  lxxviii.  7,  but  in  B2  no  such  restora- 
tion is  expected.  In  B1  the  earthly  Jerusalem 
is  to  be  rebuilt,  i.  4,  vi.  9,  xxxii.  2-4,  lxxviii. 
7  (see  notes  in  my  edition),  but  not  in  B2  : 
cf.  x.  10,  xx.  2.  In  B1  Jeremiah  is  not  sent 
to  Babylon,  lxxvii.  12,  but  in  B2  he  is  sent, 
x.  2,  xxxiii.  2. 

See  Charles,  Apocalypse  of  Baruch,  and 
Apoc.  and  Pseudep.,  ii.  470-526. 

4  Ezra 

This  is  the  most  profound  and  touching  of 
the  Jewish  Apocalypses.  It  stands  in  the 
relation  of  a  sister  work  to  2  Baruch,  but 
though  the  relation  is  so  close  the  points  of 
divergence  are  many  and  weighty.  Thus 
whereas  2  Baruch  represents  the  Judaism 
of  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era, 
which  approximates  to  the  school  of  Hillel 
and  is  related  closely  to  later  Rabbinical 
Judaism,  the  teaching  of  4  Ezra  on  the  Law, 
Works,  Justification,  Original  Sin  and  Freewill 
approximates  to  the  school  of  Shammai. 

To  the  question  propounded  in  the  New 
Testament — "  Are  there  few  that  be  saved  ?  " 
4  Ezra  states  categorically  viii.  3,  "  Many 
have  been  created,  but  few  shall  be  saved." 


250      RELIGIOUS   DEVELOPMENT 

This  accords  well  with  the  school  of  Sharn- 
mai,  whereas  the  contrary  statement  in  2  Ba- 
ruch  xxi.  11,  represents  the  school  of  Hillel. 
Again  the  sufferings  of  the  wicked  in  the 
next  world  are  so  great  that  it  were  better 
according  to  4  Ezra  and  the  school  of  Sham- 
mai  that  man  had  not  been  born  :  cf.  vii. 
66,  116-117.  In  iv.  12  the  nexus  of  sin 
and  suffering  is  put  still  more  strongly : 
"  It  would  have  been  better  that  we  had 
never  been  created  than  ...  to  live  in 
sins  and  suffer  and  not  to  know  why  we 
suffer."  While  2  Baruch  (liv.  19)  declares 
that  "  each  one  of  us  is  the  Adam  of  his  own 
soul,"  and  therefore  takes  a  hopeful  view 
of  the  future,  4  Ezra  holds  that  man  is  all 
but  foredoomed  through  his  original  evil 
disposition  or  through  the  fall  of  Adam 
(vii.  118)  :  "  O  Adam,  what  hast  thou  done  ! 
for  though  it  was  thou  that  sinned,  the  fall 
was  not  thine  alone  but  ours  also,  who  are 
thy  descendants  !  " 

Again,  whereas  2  Baruch  with  the  School 
of  Hillel  would  show  some  mercy  to  the 
Gentiles  (lxxii.  4-6)  in  the  Messianic  period, 
none  according  to  4  Ezra  (ix.  22  seq.,  xii.  34, 
xiii.  37  seq.),  and  the  Shammaites  (Toseph., 
Sank.  xiii.  2)  will  be  extended  to  them. 

Finally,  whereas  the  Law  is  the  source  of 
life  according  to  2  Baruch  and  Hillel,  it  is  a 


THE   O.  T.  PSEUDEPIGRAPHA    251 

source  of  fear  to  4  Ezra  and  apparently  in  a 
minor  degree  to  the  Shammaites.  Thus  while 
Hillel  declared  "  Whoever  has  gotten  to 
himself  the  words  of  Torah  has  gotten  to 
himself  the  life  of  the  world  to  come  "  (Aboth, 
ii.  8),  2  Baruch  regards  the  Law  as  the 
protection  of  the  righteous  (xxxii.  1),  their 
source  of  justification  (li.  3),  and  their  never- 
failing  stay  (xlviii.  22,  24).  In  4  Ezra  even 
the  righteous  man  trembles  before  the  Law, 
for  all  have  sinned  (viii.  35).  Only  a  few 
will  be  saved  through  divine  compassion 
(vii.  139)  or  through  good  works  (vii.  77). 

Mr.  Box's  analysis  of  this  composite  book 
is  as  follows  (Charles'  Apocrypha  and  Pseud- 
epigrapha,  ii.  542) — 

"  The  Ezra- Apocalypse  proper  corresponds 
to  chapters  3-14  of  the  2  Esdras  of  our 
Apocrypha  (or  the  Fourth  Book  of  Ezra  of  the 
Vulgate)  ...  In  its  present  form  it  is  a  com- 
pilation made  by  an  Editor  or  Redactor  (R), 
and  was  published  by  him  about  the  year 
a.d.  120,  in  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of 
Hadrian.     The  sources  utilised  by  R  were — 

"  (1)  a  Salathiel-Apocalypse  (S)  which  was 
originally  published  in  Hebrew  in  the  year 
a.d.  100.  It  is  contained  in  chapters  3-10, 
together  with  a  certain  amount  of  interpolated 
material. 

"  (2)  To  this   have   been   appended   three 


252     RELIGIOUS  DEVELOPMENT 

independent  pieces,  extracts  from  other  apoca- 
lypses, viz.  the  Eagle- Vision  (=ch.  11-12), 
the  Son  of  Man  Vision  ( =  ch.  13)  and  the 
Ezra-legend  :   (ch.  14  mainly). 

"  (3)  Extracts  from  another  source  have 
also  been  utilised  by  R  and  interpolated  in 
S.  These  are  from  an  old  Ezra-Apocalypse 
and  detail  the  signs  which  precede  the  end  of 
the  world  (iv.  52-v.  13a  and  vi.  11-29).  This 
source  may  also  have  been  utilised  by  R  in 
his  compilation  of  the  passages  vii.  26-44 
and  viii.  63-ix.  12. 

"  The  whole  has  been  compiled  in  its  present 
form  by  R,  the  different  material  being  welded 
together  by  redactional  links  and  adjustments. 
But  the  distinctive  features  of  the  sources 
have  not  been  seriously  affected.  The  pur- 
pose of  the  compilation  appears  to  have  been 
to  commend  the  apocalyptic  literature  to 
certain  Rabbinical  circles  which  were  hostile, 
and  to  secure  for  it  a  permanent  place  within 
orthodox  Judaism.  With  this  end  in  view 
the  Redactor  invested  the  whole  composite 
work  with  the  name  of  Ezra — a  name  specially 
honoured  in  the  Rabbinical  Schools." 

See  Box,  The  Ezra- Apocalypse,  1912,  and  his 
contribution  in  Charles*  Apoc.  and  Pseudep., 
ii.  542-624. 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS 


Alexandrian    views.     See    Indi- 
vidualism, Judaism. 
Apocalyptic,    essentially    ethical, 
29-32 
not    essentially  pseudonymous, 
14,     45-46  ;    yet    all    Jewish 
apocalypses     after     200     B.C. 
pseudonymous,      45 ;        loses 
pseudonymous     character    in 
Christianity  at  first,  45 ;   but 
resumes  it  later,  46. 
relation  of,  to  Christianity,  33 
relation  of,  to  Judaism,  banned 
by  Judaism,  33 ;  services  and 
significance   of,    to    Judaism, 
34,  64,  165 
relation  of,  to  legalistic  Judaism, 
34  ;  becomes  anti-legalistic  on 
passing  over  into  Christianity, 
34 
relation    of,    to   prophecy,    has 
common  bases  and  uses  same 
methods  with,   16 ;    channels 
of  revelation  same,  16 ;  each 
lias     its     own     eschatology, 
17 
apocalyptic  not   prophecy,  first 
answers  problems  of  Job  and 
Ecclesiastes,  and  is  true  source 
of  beliefs  in 
(i)    blessed  future  life,    18 
seq.;  in  heaven,  of  in- 
dividual, 19 
(ii)   catastrophic      end      of 

world,  19-20 
(iii)  new  heaven  and  earth, 

spiritual,  20-21 
(iv)  unity  of  history,  past, 
present,  and  future, 
22-24 
unfulfilled     prophecy     reinter- 
preted by,  25-29 
Apocrypha    of     Old    Testament, 
books  of,  canonicity  of,  184- 
219 


Apocryphal,  various  meanings  of 

word,  184-185 
Aristeas,  Letter  of,  227 

Baruch,  the  Book  of  (1  Baruch), 
215-218  ;  the  Syriac  Apocalypse 
of  (2  Baruch),  242-249  ;  rela- 
tion of,  to  4  Ezra,  244-246,  250 

Bell  and  the  Dragon,  197-198 

Catholic  Church— its  meaning,  177 
note 

Chasidim,  117  ;  books  written  by, 
9,  118-119,  161 

Children,  Song  of  Three.  See 
Three. 

Christ,  claims  of,  and  idea  of 
Messiah,  93-96 

Christian  prophecy  not  pseudo- 
nymous, 45-46 

Christianity    and   apocalyptic,  9, 

35 

and  the  Law,  166-167 

as  a  divine  life    first,  and    an 

intellectual  creed  and  rule  of 

life  and  ritual  afterwards,  168 

Comprehensiveness  of  Judaism,  in 
Temple  worship,  178-179,  181 ; 
of  our  Lord,  179-180;  still 
possible  to  Christian  churches, 
183-184 

Creeds,  use  of,  174 

Daniel,  23,  29,  43  passim 
Additions  to,  194-198 
reinterpreted,  163 
reinterprets     Jeremiah's      pro- 
phecy, 27-28,  162 

Earthly  kingdom,  idea  of,  aban- 
doned in  first  century  b.c. 
except  in  Parables  of  Enoch, 
58 

Ecclesiastes,  108 

Ecclesiasticus.    See  Sirach. 


253 


254 


INDEX   OF  SUBJECTS 


Enoch,  First  (Ethiopic)    Book  of, 

223-226,  231 
Enoch,  Second  Book  of  (or  Secrets 

of  Enoch),  239-242 
Eschatological  beliefs,  last  to  be 
influenced  by  higher  theology, 
101 
Eschatology,  meaning  of,  different 
from  apocalyptic  and  prophecy 
(q.v.),  17 
always  on  a  lower  plane  of  de- 
velopment than  the  theology 
it  is  connected  with,  101 
of  New  Testament,  127-133 ;  of 
St.  Paul,  128  note 
Esdras,  First  Book  of,  206-210 
Esther,  Addition*  to,  210-212 
Eternal  damnation,  130 
Ethical    teaching  of   apocalyptic, 

29-32 
'Ezekiel,  particularism"©*,  106-107 
reinterprets    prophecy    of    Gog 
and  Magog,  26 
Ezra,  Fourth  Book  of,  249-252 

Forgiveness,  man's,  of  his  neigh- 
bour, 183-158;  in  Talmud, 
151-153  note ;  no  prescribed 
doctrine  of  forgiveness  in  O.T., 
142 

Future  life  in  heaven,  belief  in, 
in  Job,  109-112  ;  not  in  Penta- 
teuch or  Prophets  strictly  so- 
called,  100-101  ;  nor  in  Sirach, 
Tobit  and  1  Maccabees,  116; 
but  in  apocalyptic  and  N.T., 
118-133 

Gehenna,  123 

Hagiographa,  books  admitted   to 
Canon  of,  down  to  a.d.   100, 
e.  g„    Canticles,    Ecclesiastes, 
Esther,  43 
Daniel  placed  in,  42 

Immortality  of  the  soul,  113 
Imprecatory  Psalms,  140,  173 
I n<Jividual  responsibility,  106 
Individualism    of   Jeremiah,  105- 

106  ;  of  Ezekiel,  106-107 
Inspirnti  >n,  belief  in,  dies,  43 
Iutellectualism,  irreligious,  170 

Jeremiah,  prophecy  of,  of  seventy 
weeks,  reinterpreted  by  Daniel 
and  1  Enoch,  27-28,  162 

Jeremy,  Epistle  of.  212-214 

Job,  problem  of,  109-112 


John  Hyrcanus  as  Messiah,  82 

Jubilees,  Pharisaic  and  legalistic 
character  of,  229-231 

Judaism,  pre-Christian,  two  forms 
of,  Apocalyptic  and  Legalistic, 
33  ;  welded  together  in  Joel, 
33  ;  give  rise  respectively  to 
Christianity  and  Talmudic 
Judaism,  33 

Judith,  193-194 

Kingdom,  Messianic. 

temporary,  not  eternal,  58-59 ; 
time  of  coming  fixed,  62 

development  of  idea  of,  49-63  ; 
in  preprophetic  times,  49,  65  ; 
in  pre-Exilic  prophets,  66  ;  in 
Exilic  prophets,  66-69  ;  within 
man,  69;  worldwide,  70;  in 
new  heaven    and    earth,   71 ; 

i  •  this  idea  continued  in  Christ's 
teaching,  72-73.  See  Messiah. 
Kingdom  of  God,  (a)  change  in 
idea  of,  in  prophets,  on  earth, 
eternal,  members  have  long 
but  not  eternal  lives,  49.  See 
Kingdom,  Messianic. 

in  apocalyptic,  individual  and 
national  eschatology  com- 
bined, 102-108  ;  rise  of  doctrine 
of  resurrection  of  righteous  to  a 
common  life  inthird  and  second 
century  B.C.,  51-52,  112-116 

(b)  eternal  or  temporary,  49,58,62 

(c)  introduced     catastrophically 

or  gradually,  21,  54 
(<0  meaning  of  '  •  the  sovereignty 
of  God,"  47 
meaning     of     "  the     divine 
community,"  48 

Law,  the,  of  etornal  validity  to  all 
Jewish  apocalyptic  writers,  8- 
9, 40-41 ;  not  mentioned  in  New 
Testament  Apocalypse,  167 
supremacy  of,  renders  apoca- 
lyptic pseudonymous,  40-41, 
42.    See  Christianity. 

Logalistic  Pharisaism,  drove  out 
apocalyptic  element,  35 
the  parent  of  Talmudic  Judaism, 
88 

Love  to  one's  enemies,  144-146 

Maccabean  dynasty  antithesis  in 
some  ways  of  Messianic  ideal, 
28;  relation  of  Chasidim  to, 
118 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS 


255 


Maccabean  family,  and  idea  of 
Messiah  from  Levi,  80,  84 

Maccabees,  First  Book  of,  198-200  ; 
Sadducean      authorship      of, 
199 
Second  Book  of,  200-201 ;  Phari- 
saic authorship  of,  201 
Third  Book  of,  201-202  ;  Chasid 

authorship  of,  202 
Fourth  Book  of,  218-219 

Manasses,  Prayer  of,  214-215 

Messiah,  from  Aaron  and  Israel, 

236;    from    Judah,  only   one 

allusion  to,  in  second  century 

b.c,  55 

from  Levi,  expected  in  Testa> 

ments  of   Twelve  Patriarchs, 

56,  80.     See  Maccabean  family 

idea  of,  75-83  ;  as  king,  77  ;  at 

priest    (especially  in   Macca 

bean  times),  78-84  ;  as  prophet 

77 

as  Son  of  Man.     See  Son  of  Man 

85  ;  a*  Man  of  War,  S8-89  ;  f ur 

ther  functions  of,  in  Christ's 

claims,  85 

Messianic  kingdom.   See  Kingdom 
under  direct  rule  of  God  (with 
out    Messiah),  76;    or   under 
Messiah,  76 

Millennium.  See  Messianic  king- 
dom, temporary. 

Monolatry  precedes  Monotheism 
in  Israel's  religion,  99 

Monotheism  destroys  nationalistic 
view  of  Israel's  God,  102 ;  false 
view  of  life  in  Sheol,  103 

Moses,  Assumption  of,  237-239 

Mystics,  function  of,  in  reinterpre- 
tation,  165 


National  churches  versus  the  sec- 
tarianism of  creeds,  182-183 

New  heaven  and  new  earth,  ex- 
pectation of,  19 

Noah,  Book  of,  222-223 

Oracles.     See  Sibylline. 

Parables  of  Enoch,  view  of  king- 
dom in,  59 

Particularism,  Jewish,  54  ;  e.  g.  in 
Ezekiel,  54 

Patriarchs.    See  Testaments. 

Paul,  St.,  development  of  ideas  of, 
128-129 

Pharisaism,  38 


Prophecy  of  literary  character,  39 
personal,  no  longer  possible,  39 
pre-Exilic — spoken  and  written, 
38  ;  post-Exilic — written  only, 
38  seq. 
reinterpretation   of   unfulfilled, 
in  apocalyptic,  25-29  ;  e.  g.  of 
Jeremiah's   prophecy    of    the 
seventy  years  in  Daniel  and 
1  Enoch,  162 
of  Old  Testament,  anonymous  at 

times,  38 
idea  of  kingdom  in.    See  King- 
•     dom. 

Psalms.    See  Imprecatory. 
Psalms  of  Solomon,  232 
Pseudepigrapha,  books  of,  220-252 
Pseudonymity,  cause    of,  in  apo- 
calyptic, 38-45 ;  not  universal, 
36 ;    though   general,  43,  45 ; 
ceased  to  exist  in  Christianity 
for  a  time,  45 


Rabbinical  scholars  hold  that  Pro- 
phecy and  Hagiographa  will 
cease  to  be,  but  Law  will 
endure  for  ever,  41 

R  interpretation  of  prophecy,  lu- 
ll, 25-29,  159-163;  and  law, 
163-164.    -See  Prophecy. 

Resurrection,  doctrine  of,  rise  of, 

112-115  ;   due  to  synthesis  of 

national   and    individual   es- 

chatologies,  112-113 

the  First,  62-63 

nature  of,  of  spirit  only,  59,  63 ; 

of  the  body,  54,  113 
of  righteous  only,  114,  121 
time  of,  with  Final  Judgment  at 
close  of    Messianic  kingdom, 
58  ;  before  Messianic  kingdom, 
58 

Retaliation,  law  of,  135 

Retribution  in  this  life  only,  107, 
116-117  ;  in  next  life,  121-122 

Revenge,  139-141 

Sabbath,  observance  of,  166 

Servant,  of  Yahweh,  the  Suffering, 
91.    See  Son  of  Man. 

Sheol,  view  of,  in  1  Enoch,  121, 
122;  in  Sirach,  52,  53;  in 
Yahwism,  early,  100,  103 ;  in 
Ezekiel,  107 ;  later  develop- 
ments, 121-123,  125,  129 

Sibylline  oracles,  Jewish  and 
Christian,  226-227 


256 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS 


Simon  Maccabseus  as  Messiah, 
79 

Sirach,  53,  189-191 ;  Sadducean 
original,  190 ;  and  Pharisaic 
recension  of  the  text,  190-191 

Son  of  Man,  of  superhuman  origin, 
85  ;  idea  of,  in  1  Enoch,  85- 
87  ;  our  Lord's  use  of  term, 
91-96;  synthesis  of  ideas  of 
Son  of  Man  and  Suffering 
Servant  of  Yahweh,  91 

Soul  and  spirit,  124-125  ;  the  soul 
tne  bearer  of  the  personality 
in  Old  Testament,  124 

Spirit,  different  from  soul,  124 ; 
entrance  of,  into  <^rnal  bliss 
at  death,  believed  in  by  Alex- 
andrian Judaism,  03,  120  ;  in- 
termediate abode  of,  believed 
in  by  Palestinian  Judaism, 
63-64 

Susannah,  195-197 

Symbolism  of  apocalyptic,  60-61, 
81,  85 


Testaments  of  Twelve  Patriarchs, 
account  of,  227-229  ;  additions 
to,  232-233;  teaching  of,  82- 
84  ;  on  forgiveness,  153-157 

Three  Children,  Song  of,  195 

Tobit,  191-193 

Traditional  beliefs  and  symbols 
continually  reinterpreted,  160 

Unfulfilled  prophecy.  See  Apoca- 
lyptic, Prophecy. 

Universalism,  70-71 ;  e.  g.  in  Jere- 
miah, 68 

Wisdom,  Book  of,  202-206 

Yahwism,  primitive,  esclvitohury 
of,  100-101  ;  transformed  by 
monotheism,  102-115 


Zadokite  work,  Fragments  of  a. 
234-236 


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47.  The  Colonial  Period  (1607-1766). 

By  Charles  McLean  Andrews,  Professor  of  American  History,  Yale. 
The  fascinating  history  of  the  two  hundred  years  of  "colonial  times." 

82.  The   Wars   Between   England   and   America 
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By  Theodore  C.  Smith,  Professor  g{  American  History,  Williams 
College.  A  history  of  the  period,  with  especial  emphasis  on  The 
Revolution  and  The  War  of  1812. 

67.  From  Jefferson  to  Lincoln  (1815-1860). 

By  William  MacDonald,  Professor  of  History,  Brown  University. 
The  author  makes  the  history  of  this  period  circulate  about  constitu- 
tional ideas  and  slavery  sentiment. 

25.  The  Civil  War  (1854-1865). 

By  Frederic  L.  Paxson,  Professor  of  American  History,  University 
of  Wisconsin. 

39.  Reconstruction  and  Union  (1865-1912). 

By  Paul  Leland  Haworth.  A  History  of  the  United  States  in  our 
own  times. 


GENERAL  HISTORY  AND  GEOGRAPHY 

78.  Latin  America. 

By  William  R.  Shepherd,  Professor  of  History,  Columbia.  With 
maps.  Sets  forth  the  kind  of  equipment  and  the  historical,  artistic, 
and  commercial  development  of  the  Central  and  South  American 
republics. 

76.  The  Ocean.     A  General  Account  of  the  Sci- 
ence of  the  Sea. 

By  Sir  John  Murray,  K.  C  B.,  Naturalist  H.  M.  S.  "Challenger," 
1872-1876,  joint  author  of  The  Depths  of  the  Ocean,  etc.  With 
plates  and  maps  in  colors.  The  author,  one  of  the  greatest  authori- 
ties on  the  Ocean,  tells  the  results  of  his  life-long  study  of  the  seas. 

72.  Germany  of  To-day. 

By  Charles  Tower.  Describes  the  constitution  and  government  of 
the  Empire  and  its  several  States,  city  administration  and  enterprise, 
educational  institutions,  the  organization  of  industry  and  agricul- 
ture, and  the  outstanding  features  of  social  and  intellectual  activity. 

57.  Napoleon. 

By  Herbert  Fisher,  Vice-Chancellor  of  Sheffield  University.  Author 
of  The  Republican  Tradition  in  Europe,  etc.  Mr.  Fisher  presents  at 
once  a  vivid  portrait  of  the  "greatest  conqueror  and  captain  of  mod- 
ern times,"  and  an  important  historical   estimate  of  the  period. 

26.  The  Dawn  of  History. 

By  J.  L.  Myres,  Professor  of  Ancient  History,  Oxford.  The  first 
brief  and  simple  survey  of  the  history  of  very  early  times. 

30.  Rome. 

By  W.  Warde  Fowler,  author  of  Social  Life  at  Rome,  etc.  "An 
accurate,  scholarly,  and  unusually  entertaining  history  from  the  ear- 
liest authentic  records  to  the  death  of  Marcus  Aurelius." — American 
Library  Association  Booklist. 

84.  The  Growth  of  Europe. 

By  Granville  Cole,  Professor  of  Geology,  Royal  College  of  Science, 
Ireland.  A  study  of  the  geology  and  physical  geography  in  connec- 
tion with  the  political  geography. 

13.  Medieval  Europe. 

By  H.  W.  C  Davis,  Fellow  at  Balliol  College,  Oxford,  author  of 
Charlemagne,  etc. 

33.  The  History  of  England. 

By  A.  F.  Pollard,  Professor  of  English  History,  University  of 
London.  "Professor  Pollard  is  to  be  ranked  among  the  few  leading 
English  historians  of  the  times.  One  of  the  most  brilliant  little  vol- 
umes."— Springfield  Republican. 

3.  The  French  Revolution. 

By  Hilaire  Belloc.  "For  the  busy,  man  it  would  be  difficult  to 
name  another  work  better  suited  for  the  purpose  of  conveying  an 
intelligent  idea  of  the  greatest  political  event  of  modern  times." — 
San  Francisco  Chronicle. 


4.  A  Short  History  of  War  and  Peace. 

By  G.  H.  Perris,  author  of  Russia  in  Revolution,  etc.  The  Hon. 
James  Bryce  writes:  "I  have  read  it  with  much  interest  and  pleas- 
ure, admiring  the  skill  with  which  you  have  managed  to  compress  so 
many  facts  and  views  into  so  small  a  volume." 

20.  History  of  Our  Time  (1885-1911). 

By  G.  P.  Gooch.     A  "moving  picture"  of  the  world  since  1885. 

22.  The  Papacy  and  Modern  Times. 

By  Rev.  William  Barry,  D.  D.,  author  of  The  Papal  Monarchy, 
etc.     The  story  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  Temporal  Power. 

8.  Polar  Exploration. 

By  Dr.  W.  S.  Bruce,  Leader  of  the  "Scotia"  expedition.  Empha- 
sizes the  results  of  the  expeditions,  not  in  miles  traveled,  but  in 
valuable  information  brought  home.  "Of  enormous  interest." — 
Chatauqua  Press. 

18.  The  Opening-up  of  Africa. 

By  Sir  H.  H.  Johnston.  The  first  living  authority  on  the  subject 
tells  how  and  why  the  "native  races"  went  to  the  various  parts  of 
Africa  and  summarizes  its  exploration  and  colonization.  (With 
maps.) 

19.  The  Civilization  of  China. 

By  H.  A.  Giles,  Professor  of  Chinese,  Cambridge,  author  of  A  His- 
tory of  Chinese  Literature,  etc.  A  vivid  outline  of  history,  manners 
and  customs,   art,   literature,   and   religion. 

36.  Peoples  and  Problems  of  India. 

By  Sir  T.  W.  Holderness,  Secretary  of  the  Revenue,  Statistics,  and 
Commerce  Department  of  the  British  India  Office.  "The  best  small 
treatise  dealing  with  the  range  of  subjects  fairly  indicated  by  the 
title."— The  Dial. 

7.  Modern  Geography. 

By  Dr.  Marion  Newbigin.  Those  to  whom  "geography"  suggests 
"bounded  on  the  north  by,"  etc.,  will  gain  a  new  view  of  the  world 
from  this  book.  It  shows  the  relation  of  physical  features  to  living 
things  and  to  some  of  the  chief  institutions  of  civilization. 

51.  Master  Mariners. 

By  John  R.  Spears,  author  of  The  History  of  Our  Navy,  etc.  A 
history  of  sea  craft  and  sea  adventure  from  the  earliest  times,  with 
an  account  of  sea  customs  and  the  great  seamen. 

SOCIAL  SCIENCE 
77.  Co-Partnership  and  Profit  Sharing. 

By  Aneurin  Williams,  Chairman,  Executive  Committee,  Interna- 
tional Co-operative  Alliance,  etc.  Explains  the  various  types  of  co- 
partnership or  profit-sharing,  or  both,  and  gives  details  of  the  ar- 
rangements now  in  force  in  many  of  the  great  industries  both  here 
and  abroad. 

75.  Shelley,  Godwin  and  Their  Circle. 

By  H.  N.  Brailsford,  author  of  "Adventures  in  Prose,"  etc.  A  his- 
tory of  the  immediate  influence  of  the  French  Revolution  in  England. 


79.  Unemployment. 

By  A.  C.  Pigou,  M.  A.,  Professor  of  Political  Economy  at  Cam- 
bridge. The  meaning,  measurement,  distribution,  and  effects  of  un- 
employment, its  relation  to  wages,  trade  fluctuations,  and  disputes, 
and  some  proposals  of  remedy  or  relief. 

80.  Common-Sense  in  Law. 

By  Prof.  Paul  Vinogradoff,  D.  C.  L.,  LL.  D.  Social  and  Legal 
Rules — Legal  Rights  and  Duties — Facts  and  Acts  in  Law — Legislation 
— Custom — Judicial  Precedents — Equity — The  Law  of  Nature. 

49.  Elements  of  Political  Economy. 

By  S.  J.  Chapman,  Professor  of  Political  Economy  and  Dean  of 
Faculty  of  Commerce  and  Administration,  University  of  Manchester. 
A  clear  statement  of  the  theory  of  the  subject  for  non-expert  readers. 

11.  The  Science  of  Wealth. 

By  J.  A.  Hobson,  author  of  Problems  of  Poverty.  A  study  of  the 
structure  and  working  of  the  modern  business  world. 

L  Parliament.     Its    History,    Constitution,    and 
Practice. 

By  Sir  Courtenay  P.  Ilbert,  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
"Can  be  praised  without  reserve.    Admirably  clear." — New  York  Sun. 

16.  Liberalism. 

By  Prof.  L.  T.  Hobhouse,  author  of  Democracy  and  Reaction.  A 
masterly  philosophical  and  historical  review  of  the  subject. 

5.  The  Stock  Exchange. 

By  F.  W.  Hirst,  Editor  of  the  London  Economist.  Reveals  to  the 
non-financial  mind  the  facts  about  investment,  speculation,  and  the 
other  terms  which  the  title  suggests. 

10.  The  Socialist  Movement. 

By  J.  Ramsay  Macdonald,  Chairman  of  the  British  Labor  Party. 
"The  latest  authoritative  exposition  of  Socialism." — San  Francisco 
Argonaut. 

28.  The  Evolution  of  Industry. 

By  D.  H.  MacGregor,  Professor  of  Political  Economy,  University 
of  Leeds.  An  outline  of  the  recent  changes  that  have  given  us  the 
present  conditions  of  the  working  classes  and  the  principles  involved. 

29.  Elements  of  English  Law. 

By  W.  M.  Geldart,  Vinerian  Professor  of  English  Law,  Oxford.  A 
simple  statement  of  the  basic  principles  of  the  English  legal  system 
on  which  that  of  the  United  States  is  based. 

32.  The  School:  An  Introduction  to  the  Study  of 
Education. 

By  J.  J.  Findlay,  Professor  of  Education,  Manchester.  Presents 
the  history,  the  psychological  basis,  and  the  theory  of  the  school  with 
a  rare  power  of  summary  and  suggestion. 

6.  Irish  Nationality. 

By  Mrs.  J.  R.  Green.  A  brilliant  account  of  the  genius  and  mission 
of  the  Irish  people.  "An  entrancing  work,  and  I  would  advise  every 
one  with  a  drop  of  Irish  blood  in  his  veins  or  a  vein  of  Irish  sym- 
pathy in  his  heart  to  read  it." — New  York  Times'  Review. 


NATURAL  SCIENCE 
68.  Disease  and  Its  Causes. 

By  W.  T.  Councilman,  M.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Professor  of  Pathology,  Har- 
vard University. 

85.  Sex. 

By  J.  Arthur  Thomson  and  Patrick  Geddes,  joint  authors  of  The 
Evolution  of  Sex. 

71.  Plant  Life. 

By  J.  B.  Farmer,  D.  Sc.,  F.  R.  S.,  Professor  of  Botany  in  the  Impe- 
rial College  of  Science.  This  very  fully  illustrated  volume  contains 
an  account  of  the  salient  features  of  plant  form  from  the  point  of 
view  of   function. 

63.  The  Origin  and  Nature  of  Life. 

By  Benjamin  M.  Moore,  Professor  of  Bio  Chemistry,  Liverpool. 
Perhaps  the  chapters  on  "The  Origin  of  Life"  and  "How  Life  Came 
to  Earth"  will  attract  most  attention,  as  throwing  the  newest  light 
upon  matters  of  very  ancient  controversy. 

53.  Electricity. 

By  Gisbert  Kapp,  Professor  of  Electrical  Engineering,  University  of 
Birmingham. 

54.  The  Making  of  the  Earth. 

By  J.  W.  Gregory,  Professor  of  Geology,  Glasgow  University.  38 
maps  and  figures.  Describes  the  origin  of  the  earth,  the  formation 
and  changes  of  its  surface  and  structure,  its  geological  history,  the 
first  appearance  of  life,  and  its  influence  upon  the  globe. 

56.  Man:  A  History  of  the  Human  Body. 

By  A.  Keith,  M.  D.,  Hunterian  Professor,  Royal  College  of  Sur- 
geons.    Shows  how  the  human  body  developed. 

74.  Nerves. 

By  David  Fraser  Harris,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Physiology,  Dalhousie 
University,  Halifax.  Explains  in  non-technical  language  the  place 
and  powers  of  the  nervous  system,  more  particularly  of  those  regions 
of  the  system  whose  activities  are  not  associated  with  the  rousing  of 
consciousness. 

21.  An  Introduction  to  Science. 

By  Prof.  J.  Arthur  Thomson,  Science  Editor  of  the  Home  Univer- 
sity Library.  For  those  unacquainted  with  the  scientific  volumes  in 
the  series,  this  would  prove  an  excellent  introduction. 

14.  Evolution. 

By  Prof.  J.  Arthur  Thomson  and  Prof.  Patrick  Geddes.  Explains 
to  the  layman  what  the  title  means  to  the  scientific  world. 

23,  Astronomy. 

By  A.  R.  Hinks,  Chief  Assistant  at  the  Cambridge  Observatory. 
"Decidedly  original  in  substance,  and  the  most  readable  and  informa- 
tive little  book  on  modern  astronomy  we  have  seen  for  a  long  time." 

— Nature. 

24.  Psychical  Research. 

By  Prof.  W.  F.  Barrett,  formerly  President  of  the  Society  for 
Psychical  Research.     A  strictly  scientific  examination. 


9.  The  Evolution  of  Plants. 

By  Dr.  D.  H.  Scott,  President  of  the  Linnean  Society  of  London. 
The  story  of  the  development  of  flowering  plants,  from  the  earliest 
zoological  times,  unlocked  from  technical  language. 

43.  Matter  and  Energy. 

By  F.  Soddy,  Lecturer  in  Physical  Chemistry  and  Radioactivity, 
University  of  Glasgow.  "Brilliant.  Can  hardly  be  surpassed.  Sure 
to  attract  attention." — New  York  Stin. 

41.  Psychology,  The  Study  of  Behaviour. 

By  William  McDougall,  of  Oxford.  A  well  digested  summary  of 
the  essentials  of  the  science  put  in  excellent  literary  form  by  a  lead- 
ing authority. 

42.  The  Principles  of  Physiology. 

By  Prof.  J.  G.  McKendrick.  A  compact  statement  by  the  Emeritus 
Professor  at  Glasgow,  for   uninstructed  readers. 

37.  Anthropology. 

By  R.  R.  Marett,  Reader  in  Social  Anthropology,  Oxford.  Seeks  to 
plot  out  and  sum  up  the  general  series  of  changes,  bodily  and  mental, 
undergone  by  man  in  the  course  of  history.  "Excellent.  So  enthusi- 
astic, so  clear  and  witty,  and  so  well  adapted  to  the  general  reader." 
— American  Library  Association  Booklist. 

17.  Crime  and  Insanity. 

By  Dr.  C.  A.   Mercier,  author  of  Text-Book  of  Insanity,  etc. 

12.  The  Animal  World.  . 

By  Prof.  F.  VV.  Gamble. 

15.  Introduction  to  Mathematics. 

By  A.  N.  Whitehead,  author  of  Universal  Algebra. 

PHILOSOPHY  AND  RELIGION 
69.  A  History  of  Freedom  of  Thought. 

By  John  B.  Bury,  M.  A.,  LL.  D.,  Regius  Professor  of  Modern  His- 
tory in  Cambridge  University.  Summarizes  the  history  of  the  long 
struggle  between  authority  and  reason  and  of  the  emergence  of  the 
principle  that  coercion  of  opinion  is  a  mistake. 

55.  Missions :  The^r  Rise  and  Development. 

By  Mrs.  Mandell  Creighton,  author  of  History  of  England.  The 
author  seeks  to  prove  that  missions  have  done  more  to  civilize  the 
world  than  any  other  human  agency. 

52.  Ethics. 

By  G.  E.  Moore,  Lecturer  in  Moral  Science,  Cambridge.  Discusses 
what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong,  and  the  whys  and  wherefores. 

65.  The  Literature  of  the  Old  Testament. 

By  George  F.  Moore,  Professor  of  the  History  of  Religion,  Harvard 
University.  "A  popular  work  of  the  highest  order.  Will  be  profit- 
able to  anybody  who  cares  enough  about  Bible  study  to  read  a  serious 
book  on  the  subject." — American  Journal  of  Theology. 

50.  The  Making  of  the  New  Testament. 

By  B.  W.  Bacon,  Professor  of  New  Testament  Criticism,  Yale.  An 
authoritative  summary  of  the  results  of  modern  critical  research 
with  regard  to  the  origins  of  the  New  Testament. 


35.  The  Problems  of  Philosophy. 

By  Bertrand  Russell,  Lecturer  and  Late  Fellow,  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge. 

44.  Buddhism. 

By  Mrs.  Rhys  Davids,  Lecturer  on  Indian  Philosophy,  Manchester. 
A  review  of  that  religion  and  body  of  culture  which  is  to  a  large 
part  of  the  human  race,  chiefly  situated  in  Southern  Asia,  what 
Christianity  is  to  us  of  the  West. 

46.  English  Sects:  A  History  of  Nonconformity. 

By  W.  B.  Selbie,  Principal  of  Manchester  College,  Oxford. 

60.  Comparative  Religion. 

By  Prof.  J.  Estlin  Carpenter.  "One  of  the  few  authorities  on  this 
subject  compares  all  the  religions  to  see  what  they  have  to  offer  on 
the  great  themes  of  religion." — Christian  Work  and  Evangelist. 

LITERATURE  AND  ART 
73.  Euripides  and  His  Age. 

By  Gilbert  Murray,  Regius  Professor  of  Greek,  Oxford.  Brings 
before  the  reader  an  undisputedly  great  poet  and  thinker,  an  amaz- 
ingly successful  playwright,  and  a  figure  of  high  significance  in  the 
history  of  humanity. 

81.  Chaucer  and  His  Times. 

By  Grace  E.  Hadow,  Lecturer  Lady  Margaret  Hall,  Oxford;  Late 
Reader,  Bryn  Mawr. 

70.  Ancient  Art  and  Ritual. 

By  Jane  E.  Harrison,  LL.  D.,  D.  Litt.  "One  of  the  100  most  impor- 
tant books  of  1913." — New  York  Times  Review. 

61.  The  Victorian  Age  in  Literature. 

By  G.  K.  Chesterton.  The  most  powerfully  sustained  and  brilliant 
piece  of  writing  Mr.  Chesterton  has  yet  published. 

59.  Dr.  Johnson  and  His  Circle. 

By  John  Bailey.  Johnson's  life,  character,  works,  and  friendships 
are  surveyed;  and  there  is  a  notable  vindication  of  the  "Genius  of 
Boswell." 

58.  The  Newspaper. 

By  G.  Binney  Dibblee.  The  first  full  account,  from  the  inside,  of 
newspaper  organization  as  its  exists  to-day. 

62.  Painters  and  Painting. 

By  Sir  Frederick  Wedmore.     With  16  half-tone  illustrations. 

64.  The  Literature  of  Germany. 

By  J.  G.  Robertson. 

48.  Great  Writers  of  America. 

By  W.  P.  Trent  and  John  Erskine,  of  Columbia  University.  Gives 
the  essential  facts  as  to  the  lives  and  works  of  Franklin,  Washington 
Irving,  Bryant,  Cooper,  Hawthorne,  Poe,  Emerson,  and  the  other 
Transcendentalists,  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  and  the  other  New  Eng- 
land poets,  Motley  and  the  other  historians,  Webster  and  Abraham 
Lincoln,  Mrs.  Stowe,  Walt  Whitman,  Bret  Harte,  and  Mark  Twain. 


40.  The  English  Language. 


By  L.  P.  Smith.  A  concise  history  of  the  origin  and  development 
of  the  English  language.  "Has  certainly  managed  to  include  a  vast 
amount  of  information,  and,  while  his  writing  is  clear  and  lucid,  he 
is  always  in  touch  with  life." — The  Athenaeum. 

45.  Medieval  English  Literature. 

By  W.  P.  Ker,  Professor  of  English  Literature,  University  College, 
London.  "One  of  the  soundest  scholars.  His  style  is  effective,  sim- 
ple, yet  never  dry." — The  Athenaeum. 

27.  Modern  English  Literature. 

By  G.  H.  Mair.  From  Wyatt  and  Surrey  to  Synge  and  Yeats.  "A 
most  suggestive  book,  one  of  the  best  of  this  great  series." — Chicago 
Evening  Post. 

2.  Shakespeare. 

By  John  Masefield.  "One  of  the  very  few  indispensable  adjuncts 
to  a  Shakespearean  Library." — Boston  Transcript. 

31.  Landmarks  in  French  Literature. 

By  G.  L.  Strachey,  Scholar  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge.  "For  a 
survey  of  the  oustanding  figures  of  French  literature  with  an  acute 
analysis  of  the  contribution  which  each  made  to  his  time  and  to  the 
general  mass  there  has  been  no  book  as  yet  published  so  judicially 
interesting." — The  Chautauquan. 

38.  Architecture. 

By  Prof.  W.  R.  Lethaby.  An  introduction  to  the  history  and 
theory  of  the  art  of  building.  "Professor  Lethaby's  scholarship  and 
extraordinary  knowledge  of  the  most  recent  discoveries  of  archaeo- 
logical research  provide  the  reader  with  a  new  outlook  and  with  new 
facts." — The  Athenaeum. 

66.  Writing  English  Prose. 

By  William  T.  Brewster,  Professor  of  English,  Columbia  Univer- 
sity. "Should  be  put  into  the  hands  of  every  man  who  is  beginning 
to  write  and  of  every  teacher  of  English  that  has  brains  enough  to 
understand  sense." — New  York  Sun. 

83.  William  Morris:  His  Work  and  Influence. 

By  A.  Clittton  Brock,  author  of  Shelley:  The  Man  and  the  Poet. 
William  Morris  believed  that  the  artist  should  toil  for  love  of  his 
work  rather  than  the  gain  of  his  employer,  and  so  he  turned  from 
making  works  of  art  to  remaking  society. 

OTHER   VOLUMES  IN  PREPARATION. 

HENRY  HOLT  AND  COMPANY 
34  West  33d  Street  New  York 


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